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)S‘o. 55. 


Was She 
Wife or Widow? 

By Malcolm Bell. 

ILLUSTRATED BY F. A. CARTER. 



NEW YORK; 

ROBERT BONNER’S SONS, 
Publishers, 


THE LEDGER LIBRARY. 


> 


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WAS SHE WIFE OR WIDOW? 


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WAS SHE WIFE OR WIDOW? 




THE LEDGER 
FEBRUARY 


:3l Noocl. 



MALCOLM BELL. 

. \ r, 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. A. CARTER, 


ROBERT 



? FEB 201892 / 

NEW YOUK,*. ^ K' 

BONNE R ’ S fS O N S 


PUBLISHERS. 


LIBRARY : ISSUED SEMI-MONTHLY. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, TWELVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. NO. CB, 
15, 1892., ENTERED AT tHE NEW YORK, N. Y., POST OFFICE AS SECOND CLASS MAIL MATTER, 



COPYEIQHT, 1891 and 1892, 

By ROBERT BONNER’S SONS, 

{All Tights reserved^) 


V.Y 


%■ 



WAS SHE WIFE OR WIDOW? 


CHAPTER I. 

HOW THE UNPRECEDENTED OCCURRED. 

DAY in early February. The 
London streets were filled with a 
haze which chilled the wayfarer 
to the bone. Above, the dull 
clouds drooping low seemed to 
rest upon the housetops, while 
under foot the streets were 
greasy with the trampled mire. 
At a quarter past twelve, the large hall at the 
Cosmopolitan College devoted to the lecturer on 
chemistry was crowded with a throng of stu- 

[7] 



tVas She Wife or Widow f 


dents. Tier above tier, like the seats in an old 
Grecian theatre, rose the narrow semicircular 
platforms, each guarded in front by a ledge of 
sufficient width to contain the necessary appar- 
atus when the instruction took a practical turn, 
and it was thought advisable for the students to 
themselves perform the operations they had as 
yet only witnessed from afar, conducted by the 
expert professor and his neat-handed associate, 
Herbert Torrington. 

A quarter past twelve. At that hour, as a 
rule, silence reigned in the theatre, broken only 
by the deep, monotonous tones of Professor 
Purfleet, the lecturer, the clink of glass and 
clash of metal as the arrangements were expe- 
ditiously made for the next experiment, the 
infrequent shuffle of a foot and occasional cough. 
That day, however, it was a scene of uproar. 
Almost every individual in the cosmopolitan 
assembly seemed to be bent on creating as much 
disturbance as is possible to a healthy youth 
with strong lungs; and cosmopolitan indeed 


How the Unprecede7ited Occurred. 


the crowd was. In one place two little Japa- 
nese twittered in their native chirp anent their 
conquests among the fair-skinned daughters of 
Albion ; in another, a negro, black as a coal, 
carefully arrayed in the latest fashion, with 

resplendent linen, flashed his white teeth in 

* 

excited conversation with a group of English- 
men, from whom he was convinced in his inmost 
soul he was altogether undistinguishable ; here 
sat an American wondering at this familiarity 
displayed to a ^‘nigger;'" there a melancholy 
Parsee studiously poring over his notes, next to 
a Spaniard from South America, who looked 
contemptuously alike upon the color and indus- 
try of his unsuspecting neighbor ; while to the 
universal hubbub every language in Europe lent 
its aid. Some one in the back rows started a 
rythmed stamp upon the ground which spread 
like oil on water until it rose in a roar like the 
clamor of raging billows and then died away. 
Snatches of music-hall melod}^ whistles, cat-calls, 
and halloos flew from mouth to mouth, while 


lO 


TVas She W ife or Widow ? 


pellets of paper or solid missiles permeated the 
air, any man showing a tendency to study being 
marked down as a special and legitimate target. 

Herbert Torrington, powerless to quell the 
tumult, looked on with an expression of amused 
perplexity qpon his handsome young face. He 
was but thirty years of age, and, having been 
himself a student not so very long before, was 
prepared to make every allowance for the 
exuberance of youthful spirits, but he cast ever 
and anon a puzzled glance at the clock on the 
wall in front of him. Half-past twelve, and 
Professor Purfleet had not arrived. Such a 
thing was unprecedented, inexplicable ; no 
planet in its vasty orbit, no tax-collector on his 
appointed round, more regular than he. 

A quarter to one. An epidemic of hissing 
bfoke out furiously. Not that the students bore 
any serious grudge against their absent master. 
To most of them one lecture avoided was matter 
of rejoicing, and had they known that never 
again would they see his benevolent face in its 


How the U7tpr.ecedented Occurred. ii 


familiar position, they wouM have been one and 
all filled with sincere regret, for the Old Boy, as 
they irreverently termed him among themselves, 
was respected for his talents, and loved for his 
unvarying kindness to the poor or backward ,in 
his class. 

As this outburst sank into inanition, Herbert, 
after a final glance at the clock, announced : 

Gentlemen, the class is dismissed for to-day.*' 

An ironical cheer rang up from the assembled 
gentlemen, a thunderburst of clattering feet upon 
the stairways followed, and he was left alone to 
remove the dispositions for the undelivered 
lecture, and to wonder what could have 
happened to prevent so conscientious and punctual 
an attendant as the professor from keeping his 
appointment. 

While he is thus employed, we cannot do 
better than devote a few lines to his personal 
appearance. He was not tall, but of a strong, 
well-knit figure, with a complexion so fair, as to 
be almost startling in contrast with his dark 


12 


TVas She Wife .or Widow 9 


hair, mustache and crisply curling beard ; his 
eyes, set somewhat deeply, looked out upon the 
world frankly enough, but with some reserve, as 
becomes a man who has already learned the 
inevitable lesson that appearances are not to be 
invariably trusted, and his face, though singularly 
young-looking, bore some, few traces of cares 
past and conquered, apart from the one anxious 
thought that furrowed his broad forehead. 

“ What could have befallen the dear old pro- 
fessor ?’’ 

Even in the long, peaceful library, the puzzle 
continued to haunt him, distracting his thoughts, 
and drawing his attention from the scientific 
work it was his avowed object to study. Some 
very serious accident must have overtaken him, 
or he would at least have sent word of his 
inability to come. Severe illness, perhaps death, 
must have intervened between him and his duty; 
it was incomprehensible, and consequently 
alarming. 

This seemingly excessive agitation of his at 


How the U 7 tprecedentecl Occttrred 13 


the non-appearance of the professor arose from 
the fact that he had been to him a true friend for 
many years. Herbert’s father had been at school 
with Purfleet when both were boys, and though 
the one subsequently betook himself to the 
hazardous excitement of the stock exchange, 
while the other had devoted himself to the per- 
suit of science, the friendship between them had 
in no way suffered from the incongruity of their 
life interests, and Herbert, at a very early age, 
had imbibed from his father’s friend the taste 
for chemical research which had brought him at 
length to his present position. 

At the end of his nineteenth year, he had been 
one of the professor’s most promising pupils. 
Inspired as he was by a passion for the study, 
instead of a mere reluctant sense of more or less 
unpleasing duty ; supported as he would be by 
his father’s affluence ; permitted as he had been 
to freely choose his own path in life, there 
seemed to be no obstacles to his attaining even 


14 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


that highest rank in his profession which his old 
friend and master prophesied would be his. 

Unluckily, Fortune is proverbially fickle ; and 
a panic, following an unsuccessful attempt to bull 
the market in certain foreign railway securities, 
resulted in several smashes of portentious extent, 
in one of which Mr. Torrington was irredeemably 
crushed. The shock of this unlooked-for disaster 
proved too much for him, and he did not long 
survive it. 

Herbert, though overwhelmed at first by this 
avalanche of misfortune, quickly fought his way 
from beneath it; and, putting behind him with a 
regretful sigh his hopes and ambitions, accepted 
gratefully Professor Purfleet’s kindly offer of 
temporary assistance, and took up undauntedly 
the drudgery of a country practice, in order to 
support his mother and himself in moderate 
comfort. For six weary years he labored day 
and night at his uncongenial duties, and had 
forced himself to recognize with indifference, if 
not with resignation, that such for the future 


How the Unprecedented Occurred, 15 


must always be his path in life, when an unex- 
pected bequest from a wealthy cousin of his 
father's restored to him once more a modest 
competency and reopened to his ardor the gates 
to the temple of Fame. 

As speedily as possible, he wound up his affairs 
and resigned his position to a successor, estab- 
lished his widowed mother in the retired village 
which she had learned to love and was unwilling 
to leave, and returned with rebudding hopes to 
London and the cultivation of his favorite branch 
of knowledge. Well aware that the years of his 
exile were lost to him forever as far as study was 
concerned, he devoted himself to his work with 
the more unmitigated assiduity, and so steadily 
did he hold on that ere many months had passed 
he succeeded in overtaking the column of search- 
ers after learning, from which he had perforce 
fallen out six years before, many of whom, to 
say the truth, had done little more than mark 
time scientifically all the while. 

Professor Purfleet had welcomed back this 


i6 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


most promising of his recruits with unfeigned 
joy, and was so satisfied with his redoubled 
efforts that when, some two years later, his assist- 
ant left him to assume the professorship of one 
of the colonial colleges, he offered the post thus 
left vacant to Herbert, who accepted it without 
the slightest hesitation. From the day he under- 
took the office to that on which, for the first time 
in student experience, the professor had failed to 
put in an appearance at the hour appointed for 
lecture, they had worked together in the utmost 
harmony and with mutual contentment. 

The dingy day had already imperceptibly faded 
away into murky night when Herbert issued from 
the doorway of the college and hastened down 
the long paved curve to the gates, eager to learn 
even the worst rather than endure longer the tor- 
tures of ignorant conjecture. 

I beg your pardon, Mr. Torrington,’' said the 
lodge-keeper, who was glowering with an air of 
extreme albeit unexpressed dissatisfaction on the 
weather and the world at large. ‘‘ I’ve got a note 


How the Unprecedented Occurred. 17 

for you here. I thought you had gone, or I 
should have sent it in to you.'' 

Herbert opened it, and hastily glanced over it 
in the light of the lodge doorway. 

Dear Herbert," it ran — “ Please come round 
to see me here as soon as you c^n get away from 
your duties. I am in great trouble and distress. 
Always yours affectionately, 

“ Bertha Purfleet." 

When did this come?" he asked, at the end 
of a re-perusal of these few but ominous words. 

‘‘About two o'clock, sir," said the porter, 
regretfully. “ I sent it into the theatre, but they 
said that you had left. I hope it ain't of very 
great importance." 

“Well, it can’t be helped now, anyhow. Good 
night," replied Herbert, as he resumed his jour- 
ney at even greater speed. 

In the narrow circle of light cast grudgingly 
downward by a lamp just without the gates stood 
a man whose face and figure struck him as being 


i8 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


singularly familiar, though he could not for the 
life of him recall when and where he had met 
him before. He was young, apparently not 
more than five-and-twenty, with a handsome, 
clean-cut face, dark complexion, hair and eyes. 
He looked at Herbert with a curious expression 
of affectionate recognition, and made an unde- 
cided move toward him as if about to accost him ; 
to which Herbert was about to respond with that 
half-hearted cordiality which a man displays 
when he feels himself bound to accept an acquaint- 
ance, while he fears to betray his ignorance of 
all particulars as to its origin or details. 

Words of affected friendliness were fluttering 
on his tongue when on a sudden, a wave of ghastly 
consternation swept across the young man's 
countenance; and turning swiftly, with a faint 
cry, he sped away into the darkness, and shortly 
vanished in the clammy fog. Astounded at this 
sudden and unaccountable revulsion of aspect 
and purpose, Herbert wheeled round to see what 
hideous monster or unlooked-for apparition 


How the Unprecedented Occurred, ig 

stalked behind him; but if any such had been 
there, it was gone already. . He stood alone, 
walled round by the impenetrable mystery of 
luminous haze. 



CHAPTER II. 

HOW IT WAS ACCOUNTED FOR. 

Surprised as he justifiably was at this 
encounter and its singular termination, Herbert 
was too much disturbed at the contents of the 
note which had just reached him, after such an 
unfortunate delay, to give the matter more than 
a passing consideration. 

Mad, I suppose,’' he muttered to himself 
with an impatient shrug, and put the matter 
from him to debate one far more serious. 

Great trouble and distress,’' he thought again 
and again as he strode along the greasy pave- 
ment. What can be the matter ? Confound it. 
Why couldn’t she be a little more explicit.^ 

Great trouble aud distress^ And then came back 
[ 20 ] 


How it zvas Accounted For. 


21 


to him a lingering doubt that had haunted him 
for many a long day. Can it be that ? Has it 
come at last? and did I work only a lasting 
injury in giving advice, not unasked truly, which 
I thought was all for the best?” 

Bertha Purfleet, the professor's second wife, 
was a cousin of Herbert’s. She had early been 
left an orphan, and having no other relation will- 
ing to undertake the responsibility of her bringing 
up, had been offered a home by Herbert’s father. 
Many a right royal battle did the two children 
fight out between them ; for, though Bertha was 
nearly a year older than himself, Herbert was 
not at all inclined to give way in anything to 
one who was only a girl, and she was of a willful 
disposition. In fact, to every one but Herbert 
she displayed a most fierce and unmanageable 
temper ; but on him, in the intervals of their fre- 
quent quarrels, she bestowed a passionate 
devotion which was by no means appreciated by 
the object of it. She raged furiously at the con- 
temptuous rebuffs of the boy, who had a rooted 


22 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


objection to being kissed by her, to having his 
curly hair ruffled by her caressing hand, and, in 
general, to all outward demonstrations of her 
affection, which he summarized with frank dis- j 
approbation as molly-coddling 

As they advanced into their teens, these 
manifestations naturally ceased ; but the way- 
ward girl still tempered to him her overbearing 
caprice^ though the rest of the household were 
brought completely under her arrogant sway. 
So much, indeed, was his kind old mother under 
her control that Herbert was glad when the 
disaster that ov.ertook them induced Bertha to 
withdraw from their new home and to set up for 
herself. 

When he returned from his exile, he found 
her grown into a handsome, stately woman of 
six-and-twenty — a woman to be admired, if 
somewhat hard of feature and cold of manner, 
as her enemies averred, no scanty muster, if the 
truth be told. He was not long in discovering 
that her charms had completely subjugated the 


How it was Accounted For. 23 

professor, who, indeed, had more than once 
asked her to marry him, partly owing to an old 
man’s fancy, partly, perhaps, to provide a 
chaperon for his daughter Gladys, who was at 
that time sixteen years of age, and about, there- 
fore, before long, to take her place in society. 
Herbert, as events turned out, had no small 
share in bringing the affair to a successful issue ; 
and it was a serious doubt as to whether the 
result had b'feen a happy one for any concerned in 
it, that arose ever and anon to disturb his serenity. 

Her oft* repeated refusals of his offer had only 
strengthened the professor in his determination 
to overcome, in the' end, her opposition — an 
opposition which was supported not a little by 
the fact that she possessed in her own right an 
income, restricted enough, but sufficient to 
insure her independence in a position of genteel 
poverty. Disheartened, however, at length by 
his continued failures, he had taken Herbert into 
his confidence, and had urged, and finally per- 
suaded, him to reluctantly undertake the task of 


24 


JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


interceHing for him and acting as his plenipoten- 
tiary in this difficult business. 

He found, when he came to broach the object 
of his visit, that he had by no means overrated 
the awkwardness of his position, and he beat 
about the bush with sufficient clumsiness for a 
long time before he could make up his mind how 
to begin ; all of which embarrassment seemed to 
fill Bertha with strange satisfaction. 

“ Bertha,” he began at last, “ I have come to 
ask you a delicate and important question, to 
which I must request your serious considera- 
tion.” 

A deep flush covered her face as he spoke ; 
but this ebbed fast, and gave way to a stony 
pallor when she understood the full meaning of 
his proposition. 

Alarmed at this unpromising reception of his 
mission, he waxed still warmer in his pleadings, 
putting the case in its most favorable light, and 
representing strongly the comforts and benefits 
that would accrue to her from so advantageous 


How it was Accounted For. 


25 


an arrangement. As he drew near and took her 
hand in the eagerness of his argument, her stern 
face softened till she looked quite beautiful ; but 
she sat silent for some time when he had finished. 

^‘And do you advise me to take this step ?’' 
she asked finally, in a low voice. 

I think,'' he replied, overjoyed even at this 
slight relenting — I think that it would be for 
the happiness of you both." 

Oh — happiness!" she cried, with a somewhat 
bitter laugh. 

‘‘Why not?" he answered. “ He is the best 
of men, and loves you passionately." 

“ Love !" she ‘ exclaimed, scornfully, “ What 
can he know of love ? — or you, either ?" she 
added, after a pause, letting her eyes rest with a 
softened gaze upon his ardent face. 

“ So you advise me to it ?" she said ^gain, as 
he made no answer to this outburst. 

“ I do, in all honesty," he replied, warmly. 

“ Very well," she said, with a brief sigh, “ I will 
think of it," and presently broke into a flood of 


26 H^as She \Vife or tVidow ? 

tears and bade him begone, which he did will- 
ingly enough, considerably puzzled at the singu- 
larity of her behavior. 

Two days afterward an enthusiastic letter of 
gratitude from the professor told him that his 
embassy had not been in vain, and in less than a 
month he accompanied them to the altar, and 
pressed his prescribed kiss upon the ice-cold 
cheek of the new-made bride. 

The family bond thus constituted had not, he 
had reason to suspect, sat over-lightly on any of 
its wearers. Bertha had, to begin with, treated 
her husband with a rather distant respect, but her 
consideration had by degrees become over-laid 
by an ever-increasing contempt for and irritation 
against his tenderness and devotion, which she 
scarcely attempted to conceal. To her step- 
daughter she had been hardly cruel, but cer- 
tainly indifferent, interfering little with her, but 
giving her neither friendship nor advice. 

Not much of this underlying mass of combus- 
tible material had been allowed to meet Her- 


How it was Accounted For. 


27 


bert’s not too inquiring gaze, for Professor 
Purfleet, fearing, perhaps, that he might blame 
himself overmuch for his share in its creation, 
would not betray any signs of the domestic 
friction which might some day result in the 
spark that should fire it. Gladys, his daughter, 
could not lay her complaint before a young man, 
however familiar in the house; and Mrs. Purfleet, 
for reasons of her own, assiduously disguised 
her feelings in his presence beneath a mask of 
cheerful courtesy, which it never occurred to 
him to suspect, much less to strive to penetrate. 

In this precarious state matters remained for 
three years, and Gladys was nineteen before he 
gained more than the merest suspicion of the 
trouble that might at any time break forth. 
When he returned from his sojourn in the 
country, he had wondered to find the pretty, 
merry faced child who had sat upon his knees, 
played with him, quarreled with him, and made 
it up with kisses, grown into a beautiful maiden 
of fifteen, who greeted him kindly but with 


28 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


reserve, and made it clear, silently but unmis- 
takably, that the time had passed away when she 
had been a playmate to be caressed with 
impunity. 

Had the change worked gradually before his 
very eyes, the crossing of the vague line 
between child and girlhood might have been 
delayed, but as it was, it came upon him like a 
revelation, and he saw at once that if she was no 
longer to be fondled as an infant, she was 
made to be loved as a woman. And love her 
he did with growing fervor year by year, until 
his passion could no longer be pent up in his 
own bosom, and as he was thus compelled to 
speak of it to some one, he chose the straight- 
est and the wisest course, and spoke of it to her. 

‘‘ My dear fellow !'* cried Professor Purfleet, 
with evident delight, when he was informed by 
Herbert, one afternoon, that Gladys, subject to 
his consent, was willing to become his wife, I 
am overjoj^ed to hear it. It is the one thing I 
have always wished and hoped for. I have long 


How it was Accounted For. 


2g 


regarded you as a son, and am glad to welcome 
you as one in earnest/' 

I am a very happy and a very lucky man," 
said Herbert, simply. 

He hurried away to rejoin Gladys, who was 
in the drawing-room awaiting, with some trepida- 
tion, the outcome of the interview ; and they 
were still absorbed in the sweet excj^iange of 
blissful inanities when Mrs. Purfleet came in. 
They started guiltily apart, Gladys blushing 
crimson, while Herbert was about to stammer to 
Bertha some explanation of the scene upon which 
she had so unexpectedly entered, when, with a 
contemptuous sweep of her hand, she forestalled 
him, 

‘‘There is no need to tell me anything. I can 
read it in her face and yours. I congratulate 
you, Gladys, and you, too, Herbert ; for I sup- 
pose you expect it." 

Never were good wishes more frigidly spoken, 
and she drew back as the girl, forgetful of past 
sufferings in her present happiness, advanced to 


30 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


kiss her gratefully ; but she gave Herbert a cold 
band, which hardly closed upon his own, and 
turned away. As she did so he caught the 
reflection of her face in the glass above the man- 
tel-piece, and beheld in her eyes fixed upon 
Gladys an expression which startled and terri- 
fied him. The next moment they met his, and 
flushing^lightly she went away. 

From that day forward she dissembled no 
longer. She did not, indeed, openly ill-treat 
Gladys in his presence, but she ignored her with 
marked deliberation, or followed her with petty 
persecutions, and took unconcealed pleasure in 
the annoyance they caused him. In his absence 
she was more unrestrained in her malignity, as 
he soon learned ; for though Gladys was too 
^ proud to complain of her troubles even to him 
he found her, on several occasions, in tears, and 
drew from her an unwilling recital of part of her 
story. 

After the first of these confessions he went off 
in high dudgeon,, to, remoosjtrato with Bjeijtha on, 


How it was Accounted For. 


31 


her unfeeling conduct; but though she listened 
to him submissively at the time, she increased 
rather than diminished the virulence of her spite 
for the future, and Herbert was forced to the 
conclusion that his interference only made matters 
worse, and that his best course was to keep 
silence. 

There was one simple way of putting hn end 
to it : by marrying Gladys without further delay ; 
but as she was still under age, her father’s con- 
sent was necessary for this. He, good man, 
would gladly enough have removed this bone of 
contention from his household, and contributed 
thereby to his beloved daughter’s happiness ; but 
^ Bertha, accustomed of old to tyrannize over 
every one with whom she came in contact, 
had soon reduced him to complete subjection, and 
he could not be persuaded to grant his permis- 
sion without her compliance, which she reso- 
lutely refused to give. 

Though Herbert, with his manly lack of intui- 
tion, did not in the least appreciate the misery 


32 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


of the many infinitesimal stings which one 
woman can inflict upon another, if she be so 
minded, he could not remain altogether blind to 
the unsatisfactory state of the relations between 
Gladys and her step-mother, nor overlook 
entirely the brewing storm which might al any 
.moment burst in disaster, perhaps even catas- 
trophe. 

Great trouble and distress.” These four 
words, with a constant undercurrent of fearful 
speculation and wild suspicion, accompanied 
him every foot of the way, and still beat in his 
brain as he rang the bell at Professor Purfleet’s 
door. , 

What had happened ? What folly, perhaps 
crime, had that misguided woman perpetrated 
as a climax to her insane behavior ? 

Gladys came to meet him in the hall as he 
entered, and he started forward as he saw her 
pale face and hollow eyes. 

You have come at last !” she cried, anxiously, 


How it was Accoimted For, 


not heeding the kiss he pressed upon her cheek, 
and broke into a passion of sobbing. 

What is it, Gladys ?’' he exclaimed. “ What’s 
the matter? What has happened ?” 

Where is papa? Have you seen him ?” 

‘‘Seen him!” he said, wondering. “Why, I 
have only just this minute arrived.” 

“Where is he?” she repeated, without seem- 
ing to hear him. 

Where !” gasped he, struck with sudden 
fear. “ Is he not here ?” 

“ Is he not at the college ?” 

“ No. He has not been there all day, Gladys ; 
what is the meaning of it ?” 

« “ I cannot tell. Not at the college ?” she 

cried, aghast. “ He went out some time before 
any one was up, and we have not heard or seen 
anything of him since.” 

“ Gone !” ejaculated Herbert. “ Impossible. 
Where — when ?” 

“ I do not know. I cannot tell you. He has 
gone.” 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW THE ACCOUNT WAS UNACCOUNTABLE. 

Mrs. Purfleet was sitting alone by the fire in 
her boudoir, when Herbert and Gladys entered, 
but she rose and confronted him eagerly, with a 
curious light in her eyes. 

‘‘Well?” she said, defiantly, after a pause 
emphasized by the shrill ticking of the clock in 
the dim silence of the room. 

“ Well?” responded Herbert, helplessly, not 
knowing what to make of this aggressive atti- 
tude in the woman who had written to him in 
great trouble and distress only that morning. 

“What does he say?” she went on, rapidly.. 
“What explanation has he to give? What 
[ 34 ] 


How the Account was U 7 iaccountable. 35 


excuse has he to offer for this extraordinary 
treatment ?” 

What do you mean ?’' he said. 

** Are you not his messenger ? Has he not 
honored you with his confidence and sent you 
as his go-between ?*' 

“ If you mean your husband, Professor Pur- 
fleet,’' he answered, coldly, 1 cannot enlighten 
you. He has not been to the college to-day, and 
I have heard nothing of him." 

“ What !” she cried, and stopped in consterna- 
tion, as if the shadow of a great horror had, for 
the first time, fallen on her ; but she soon 
resumed, speaking swiftly and fiercely as before : 

I knew it. He has fled. He has run away 
from me. He has deserted me. I will bring an 
action against him. I will get a divorce from 
him." 

Silence, Bertha !" cried Herbert, as Gladys 
shrank, weeping and trembling, to his side. 
“ You are crazy to speak so." 

“ Crazy, am I ?" she exclaimed, coming close 


36 


JVas She Wife or Widoiv ? 


up to him and looking on him with burning 
eyes. ‘‘ It is with joy, then — joy at this happy, 
this unexpected release.** 

‘‘ Release? What do you mean ?** 

“ Mean ?** she echoed with a wildness that 
well-nigh justified his accusation. ‘‘ I mean 
that 1 could not have endured this state of 
things much longer ; that for the last four years 
that man has made my life a misery, a burden, 
and that I am glad, yes, glad, to be rid of him at 
any cost.** 

Bertha !** 

Oh, I am not going to blame you for your 
share in it, though if it had not been for you it 
would never have happened. You acted for the 
best, according to your lights, I do not doubt ; 
but it has none the less proved a period of 
humiliation and suffering to me.** 

It occurred to Herbert that in sober earnest 
the case had been the other way ; but he gave 
no voice to the thought, for a terrible suspicion 
had come upon him. Silently he motioned 


How the Account was Unaccountable. 37 


Gladys away, and shut the door behind her as 
she went. 

‘‘What have you done to him?’' he said, 
sternly. 

“ 1?” she gasped, recoiling from him. “ What 
are you thinking of ?” 

“ I am thinking,” he continued, “ that people 
do not vanish into space for nothing ; that if a 
crime has been committed and the perpetrator 
is unknown, we ask who would most benefit by 
the deed, and in this case, on your own confes- 
sion, there is but one answer — you, yourself.” 

“ Crime !” she cried, shrinking from his accus- 
ing hand, as if she feared that he was about to 
seize her and deliver her up to justice forthwith. 
“ Why should you fancy that there had been any 
crime?” 

“ People do not disappear for nothing,” he 
repeated. “ Where has he gone ? Why has he 
gone ?” 

She stood gazing at him, aghast with terror or 
amazement, and then hastily covering her face 


o 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


with her hands, sank into the chair from which 
she had risen on his entrance. 

‘‘And he — he can suspect me!” she moaned. 
“ Before Heaven, I know nothing of him 1” 

“When did you see him last?” he asked, still 
doubting her integrity. 

“ I have not set eyes on him since you left the 
drawing-room together last night. As far as I 
know, you were the last person in his company.” 

She raised her eyes meaningly while she spoke, 
as if to say that she also could give rise to sus- 
picions and a handle to gossip if she chose. 

“ When did you miss him?” 

“ He did not come to breakfast this morning, 
but there was nothing in that sufficiently unusual 
to attract attention. About eleven o'clock, as I 
passed through the hall, I noticed that his hat 
and overcoat were not in their accustomed place, 
so I concluded that he had gone out early, as he 
sometimes did.” 

“His hat and overcoat have gone?” he said, 
shaken in his disbelief. 


Hozv the Acco 7 mt was Unaccountable. 39 


'' Yes,” she answered. At twelve the house- 
maid came to me in great alarm. Going to 
arrange her master’s room, she found his gas 
still burning and the bed unslept in. I hesitated 
for some time, and then I sent for you.” 

And that is all you know ?” he asked, 
thoughtfully, as she said no more. 

‘‘ Every single word,” she said. 

He sat silent and motionless for many minutes, 
hastily reviewing the events of the previous 
night ; but he could recall nothing that could 
serve as a clue to this sudden and unaccountable 
departure. He had dined there, as he not unfre- 
quently did when not otherwise engaged, in the 
company of two other guests. Doctor Jedburgh, 
the family physician, and a Miss Maldon, who 
was Herbert's pet abhorrence. She was a 
clever, well-educated young woman, but had 
made it her role in life to know everything, and 
flattered herself upon a special skill in drawing 
out any savant who might fall into her clutches 
upon his particular subject, to Herbert’s intense 


40 


PVas She Wife or Widow 9 


annoyance, but to the great enjoyment of Pro- 
fessor Purfleet, to whom she had entirely 
devoted herself during dinner. Mrs. Purfleet, 
moreover, had been in an exceptionally amiable 
frame of mind ; and under these two influences 
the kindly old gentleman had blossomed out into 
a very near approach to his old-time geniality 
and light-heartedness. After the departure of 
the other guests, to be sure, she had relapsed to 
a certain extent into her accustomed acerbity, 
and had ruthlessly crushed the mild effervescence 
of spirits which she had given birth to and 
encouraged in her husband. 

I think Miss Maldon is the most amusing 
girl I ever met,’* he began, when the young lady 
had withdrawn, The way in which she has 
always some most important discovery to com- 
municate, which has invariably been perfectly 
well known for years ! What do you think, 
Herbert, she actually asked me — ” 

‘‘Really,” interrupted Bertha, snappishly, “ I 
think you might find some better subject for 


How the Account was Unaccountable. 41 


conversation than mockery of my dearest 
friend.” 

Professor Purfleet shrugged his shoulders 
meekly in answer to this sudden defense of a 
friend with whom his wife quarreled incessantly, 
and subsided. 

Nor did Gladys escape her touch of the lash, 
for as she sat with Herbert in the back drawing 
room, whither they had retired at the first 
opportunity, listening to his highly colored 
pictures of the future that awaited them, and 
letting her fingers wander listlessly over the 
keys of the piano, drawing from it soft waves of 
happy melody, she was bidden sharply either to 
play outright, or shut the instrument altogether, 
for that ceaseless fiddle-faddling irritated her 
step-mother’s nerves, and drove her distracted. 
Gladys had risen at once and returned to the 
other room, flushing painfully, but there was 
nothing out of the common in these little 
attacks, nor had the professor been driven to 
retreat prematurely to the peace of his own 


42 


TVas She Wife or Widozv? 


apartment, as had happened more than once in 
Herbert’s experience. No ; taking it as a whole, 
the evening had been an unusually quiet one, 
in no way the last straw of annoyance that Her- 
bert was inclined to see in it. 

Neither in the conversation that he had held 
with his old friend over a cigar and a glass of 
whiskey and water, when they had repaired to 
his study, could he remember anything hinting 
even in the vaguest way at an intended rupture 
of relations with his wife. He had found upon 
the professor’s table an ancient parchment- 
bound volume of great rarity, upon the subject 
of alchemy and the search for the philosopher’s 
stone, and laughingly rallied him upon this 
dallying with heresy and the black art. The 
professor had good-humoredly defended him- 
self, and this had led to a discussion upon such 
matters as the ever-burning lamps, the elixir of 
life, the fountain of eternal youth, and the rais 
ing of spirits by incantation. While owning 
that there were much folly and credulity in the 


How the Account was Unaccountable, 43 


early inquirers, the old scientist waxed loud in 
his praises of their undaunted perseverance and 
of the numberless invaluable additions to knowl- 
edge which the}^ had incidentally made, nor, 
when close pressed, would he affirm that he 
regarded all their fanciful aspirations as 
unnatural and impossible. 

‘‘ It is all very well for you young folks to be 
so cocksure of everything,'’ he had said, “ but 
the older a man grows and the more he learns — 
two things not always coincident, I admit — the 
shyer he becomes of asserting that anything 
cannot be. Look at the marvelous transforma- 
tions which physiology has shown to be taking 
place under our eyes every day. Changes by 
the side of which the transmutation of lead into 
gold becomes insignificant. Cannot be ! Why, 
man, we do not even know what is. Nay, we 
cannot prove that anything is.” 

1 know the arguments to which you refer,” 
said Herbert. “ But — ” 


44 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


“ You cannot deny their logic, I suppose,’' 
interrupted Professor Purfleet, smiling. 

“ No — but—” began Herbert. 

“ My dear fellow, the very fact that there 
can be a doubt is sufficient for my purpose,” con- 
tinued the professor. I will grant, if you like, 
that things that present themselves uniformly to 
the touch and sight of every normal mortal for 
all practical purposes are, but that is no reason 
for arguing that things that have not so pre- 
sented themselves are not, still less cannot be.” 

'' Well, but at that rate you open the door to 
every freak and fancy of the most disordered 
imagination !” cried Herbert. 

‘‘Why not? The ghastly monstrosities born 
of delirium tremens are there — for the sufferer.” 

“ You don’t mean to say that you believe in 
the philosopher’s stone ?” said Herbert, who 
began to suspect that his master was laughing 
at him. 

“ I admit no valid reason why it should not 
be,” he answered, dryly. 


How the Account was Unaccotmtahle. 45 


But it is impossible/’ 

The impossibilities of one century are the 
commonplaces of the next. I have been paying 
a good deal of attention to the literature of 
alchemy lately, in which I have alwa3^s taken 
great interest, and I have been conducting some 
very curious experiments, from the modern 
point of view. You shall hear about them later 
on if the final result should prove successful, and 
I think that they will astonish not only you but 
the whole world/’ 

He had declined to expatiate further upon the 
nature of his mysterious investigations, and 
Herbert had not long afterward taken his leave. 

Decidedly there was nothing in all this, which, 
in the calm reflection of another day, resolved 
itself into mere humorous mystification, to 
account for the professor’s having cast to the 
winds his home and position ; and he had 
undeniably done so, if, for some reason, or no 
reason, he had suddenly and willfully retired 
into obscurity. Nothing but madness could 


46 


JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


explain it, and he had certainly never seen cause 
to suspect that flaw in the professor’s keen, well- 
balanced mental organizationo 

“ Did you hear anything unusual in the course 
of the night?” he asked at length, meeting 
Bertha’s eyes anxiously fixed on his face, faintly 
illuminated by the glowing coals. 

“ No. I heard your’ voices as you went 
down-stairs,” she said. I heard the door 
closed and locked behind you, and I heard him 
re-ascend the stairs. After that there was 
nothing further to interest me — I mean I fell 
asleep.” 

Neither, it seemed, when Gladys was ques- 
tioned, had any noise in the house aroused her, 
but she was able to carry the story one step 
further. About half-past twelve, recalling a 
message she had forgotten to give her father, 
she went down to see if he was still up. She 
heard him lock his door as she approached, and 
he had told her that he could not see her then, 
and that her business could wait. He had 


How the Accotint zvas Unaccountable. 47 


spoken hurriedly, she thought, but she noticed 
nothing peculiar about his manner of addressing 
her apart from that. She had certainly heard 
nothing further. The professor had at all events 
gone silently. 

“ Did he leave no note or paper to explain his 
conduct?” he inquired next. 

Nothing of the kind had come to light, but 
they both admitted that the search had been 
desultory, and, at Herbert's suggestion, they 
adjourned to the room to make a closer examin- 
ation. The whiskey and glasses, cigars and 
ashes still burdened the table as before, together 
with an empty minim glass and some simple 
chemicals. On the writing-table were three 
letters directed in the professor's well-known 
hand, but no one of them was addressed to either 
his wife or his daughter. 

It might be as well, perhaps, to forward 
these, with an account of the circumstances, and 
a request that anything tending to explain the 


48 


PVas She Wife or Widozv f 


affair should be at once returned/' suggested 
Herbert. 

It would surely be better to open them at 
once. It might save valuable lime," said Bertha, 
who seemed to have given herself up entirely to 
the excitement of this hunt for evidence, quite 
irrespective of any personal interest in the mat- 
ter, and utterly regardless of the grief and doubts^ 
which were written so plainly on Gladys's pale 
face. After some hesitation, Herbert followed 
this undeniably sensible advice. The first two 
related simply to ordinary business matters, but 
the third was the acceptance of an invitation to 
dine with a fellow scientist three days later. 

That does not look as if he had gone of his 
own free will," thought Herbert ; but he said 
nothing. Some thick black ashes, as of a burnt 
card, and scattered fragments of glass ground to 
powder on the hearthstone were everything 
unwonted that remained. 

Have any letters come for him to-day ?" 
was Herbert's final inquiry. 


How the Accotint was Unaccountable. 49 


Seven were produced, and on Mrs. Purfleet’s 
initiation, opened at once. Of these again all 
but one were insignificant. The last was 
remarkable, but had no obvious bearing on the 
case in hand. It was from the manager of the 
bank at which the professor kept an account 
and referred to a check for five thousand pounds 
enclosed. 

Dear Sir : At ten o'clock this morning the 
check, forwarded to you herewith, was pre- 
sented at our branch for payment by a young 
man unknown to the cashier. He had no reason 
to doubt the genuineness of your signature, 
but as it was for an unusually large amount, and 
the bearer seemed nervous and ill at ease, he 
thought it safer to refer it to you before honor- 
ing it. Awaiting your further instructions, and 
trusting that this necessary caution will occasion 
no inconvenience to you, I am, etc." 

The signature on the check was declared by 
both Mrs. Purfleet and Gladys to be authentic, 
and it was drawn to and endorsed by the profes- 
sor in the same handwriting. 


50 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


‘‘ There cried Bertha, triumphantly. I 
told you so. The thing is as clear as daylight. 
He has run away ! He has left me, and I am 
free — free!’' 

There was a ring of such cruel exultation in 
her voice that Herbert shuddered, and Gladys, 
bursting into tears, fled from the room in horror. 

‘‘ I don’t see that that is proved,” he answered, 
roughly. It was presented by a )^oung man — 
it says so particularly — and there was no reason 
why he should not have gone for the money 
himself.” 

I am free ! I am free !” repeated again and 
again, was Bertha’s only response. 

He must be found,” he continued. If he 
has really gone away like this, he must be mad. 
Unless he returns by to-morrow, I shall put it 
into the hands of the police.” 

<< Why ?” asked Bertha, with an air of supreme 
indifference. 

< Why ?’ ” he exclaimed. A man cannot be 
permitted to disappear in this incomprehensible 


I/ozc^ the Account was Unaccozmtable, 51 


fashion without inquiries being made for him. 
It may suit you to assume that he has willfully 
taken himself off, but that explanation is hardly 
sufficient without some corroborative evidence. 
He must be found.” 

‘‘ Oh, find him — find him, by all means — if you 
can,” sneered Mrs. Purfleet. But when 3^ou 
have done so, don't bring him back to me. I 
wish to neither see nor to speak to him again.” 

'‘Woman!” he cried, angrily, “is it possible 
that you are altogether heartless ?” 

“ ‘ Heartless 1 ’ ” she repeated, with a strange 
intonation. “ ‘ Heartless !' What a question 
from you to me.” 

And, without another word, she left him 
alone. 

Before returning to his apartments late that 
night, Herbert made inquiries at all the larger 
hotels in London, but without effect. At each 
of them he was told that many guests had 
arrived and departed since the evening before, 
but no one at all resembling Professor Purfleet 


52 


JVas She Wife or Widow? 


had been seen at any of them, and though, on 
close examination, some one in each had noticed 
something peculiar, not to say suspicious, in the 
conduct or appearance of one, at least, of the 
guests, there was nothing to lead him to the 
belief that he had obtained any clew to the 
strange disappearance. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HOW THE DETECTIVE REASONED. 

“ I think I am not far wrong in asserting that 
that lady and her husband did not get on 
together over well.” 

The speaker was Mr. Wenlock, a private detec- 
tive, with whom Herbert was closeted in Profes- 
sor Purfleet’s study. No news of the absent 
gentleman had come to hand, and in accordance 
with his resolve of the night before, Herbert had 
proceeded to ask professional advice and assist- 
ance in solving the riddle. Anxious, as far as 
possible, to avoid the scandal that publicity would 
give rise to, he had sought out Mr. Wenlock, to 
whom he had been recommended to apply, and 

[ 53 ] 


54 


Was She Wife or Widow? 


had told him all that was known about the 
matter. 

‘‘Humph!’' said the latter, at the end of Her- 
bert’s narrative. “ When was he last seen or 
heard of ?” 

“ He was last seen, as far as I know, about 
half-past eleven the night before last, but he was 
actually spoken to three-quarters of an hour later 
by his daughter.” 

“Just thirty-eight hours start,” muttered the 
detective, consulting his watch. “ Why didn’t 
you come before? With such law as that, the 
case is almost hopeless.” 

“ I did not wish to raise trouble, unless it was 
absolutely necessary,” remarked Herbert, apolo- 
getically. 

“ Well, well, it can’t be helped now,” said Mr. 
Wenlock, deliberatively stroking the neatly 
trimmed brown beard he wore, much to Her- 
bert’s surprise, who had imagined that people of 
his class always presented a keen, sharp-eyed, 


How the Detective Reasoned, 


55 


clean-shaved appearance, something between a 
judge and a jockey. 

‘‘ Anything found to account for his absence ?*' 
asked Mr. Wenlock, carelessly. 

Nothing whatever,'' replied Herbert. 

‘‘ Oh, you have looked, then," he said, sharply. 

Why, of course. It was the only thing to be 
done." 

‘‘ No, sir. The only thing to be done twenty- 
four hours ago was what you have now done, 
too late, in all probability — to come to me. 
Amateur work is the curse of the profession. 
It's all very well in a book where it's all 
arranged beforehand, but in real life it does more 
harm than good. However, I must have a look 
for myself to begin with, so if you are agreeable, 
we'll step 'round at once." 

Gladys and Mrs. Purfleet were first interro- 
gated, and it was after the withdrawal of the 
latter that Mr. Wenlock made the remark at the 
head of this chapter. Herbert was unable to 


56 


JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


deny that his conjecture was correct, but he 
could not help expressing his surprise that his 
companion should have discovered the fact so 
quickly, as Bertha had been studiously moder- 
ate in her tone and manner, and had suppressed 
all signs of the wild exultation she had displayed 
the previous day. Mr. Wenlock received this 
compliment with a smile of conscious superior- 
ity, not unmixed with amused pity for his inno- 
cence. 

‘‘ Why, bless you,” he said, what do you 
suppose would be the good of me if I didn’t find 
things out quickly ? I could tell you something 
else about her, but 1 doubt if it would be for 
your good to know it sooner than ^^ou’re like to 
learn it. And now, let us see.” 

He examined the entire contents of the room 
with a skimming lightness that did not inspire 
Herbert with great confidence in his ability, 
though he found afterward that, brief and casual 
as his inspection had seemed, every shelf, drawer 


How the Detective Reasoned. 


57 


and table with all their several appurtenances 
were distinctly catalogued in his mind. 

“ He has bolted !” he observed, decidedly, at 
the conclusion of this examination. 



CHAPTER V. 

HOW THE CHECK WAS PRESENTED. 

/^‘The professor has bolted!’ Impossible!” 
cried Herbert, indignantly. What makes you 
think so?” 

Everything,” replied the detective. No 
unusual noise was heard. Now, you can’t over- 
power a man in the dead of night and carry him 
off without creating some disturbance. Mrs. 
Purfleet tells us that he used to keep a good 
deal of money in the house, and there isn’t a 
penny piece to be found.” 

But that, it seems to me, might point to a 
robbery.” 

‘‘Might it?” said Mr. Wenlock, coolly. “Do 
[58] 



How the Check was Prese7tted, 


59 


you imagine that a robber would be likely to 
take an aged scientific gentleman, pack his bag 
for him, put on his hat and overcoat and carry 
him off in the way of business?’' 

Pack his bag cried Herbert, beginning to 
feel shaken in his confidence in the impossibility 
of the professor’s having voluntarily absconded. 

How can you tell?’* 

‘‘ Professor Purfleet was naturally a man. of 
orderly habits.” 

He was,” assented Herbert, who had ceased 
to ask the origin of these to him almost miracu- 
lous intuitions. 

‘‘ Look at the contents of these drawers. Some- 
body has been making hay here among the 
underclothing. Burglars don’t waste time over 
such things. You see this depression on the bed, 
and this fine line of dust down the middle of it — • 
that’s where the bag rested.” 

Well, but he must be mad, then !” exclaimed 
Herbert. I can’t account for it otherwise.” 

Not at all. That doesn’t follow in the least. 


6o 


JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


Bless your heart, the case is by no means uncom- 
mon. You would be surprised if you knew how 
often it occurs without the public ever hearing 
a word about it. I could tell you dozens of 
instances in my own experience.*’ 

But is there not often some foul play at the 
bottom of it?” 

Sometimes, of course. Not often. In this 
case certainly not. Just consider. Here we 
have an old gentleman — wife, troublesome, shall 
I say ? — wants peace and quietness, packs up, 
writes a check for five thousand pounds, payable 
to himself, and slips off on the sly.” 

But why didn’t he present the check himself ? 
There was nothing to prevent him.” 

‘‘ What ! At a bank where he would certainly 
be recognized? Where his departure might be 
already known, and whence he might easily be 
followed and traced ? Not he.” 

W ell, but he must have foreseen the possibility 
of the check being sent back for reference, which, 
as it happened, actually occurred,” 


How the Check was Presented. 


6r 


Probably he did, but he had to chance it. So 
much the better for us.'' 

Why so ?" 

As he made it for so large an amount, he is 
presumably short of cash. He will come back 
all the sooner, or, at all events, he will be easier 
to lay hold of.*' 

Well, what is to be done?" asked Herbert, 
unable further to dispute the point. 

I'll do all I can. If I had only known a day 
earlier, I’d have had him in less than a week. 
As it is, he has had ample time to leave the 
country unnoticed, and it may take longer; but 
I'll have him, never fear. Could you oblige me 
with a description of him ? 

Thank you," he said, as he cast his eye over 
the delineation which Mrs. Purfleet, Gladys and 
Herbert drew up between them, folded it up and 
slipped it into his pocketbook. I'll let you 
know how I get on. Good afternoon." 

‘‘ There, what did I tell you? I knew that he 
would agree with me !" cried Bertha, in triumph. 


62 


IVas She Wife or W idow ? 


when the departing detective had closed the 
door behind him. ‘‘ He has deserted me — left 
me free ! I was sure of it.'' 

Shame upon you !" said Herbert, sternly, as 
Gladys fled from the sight of her step-mother's 
rapturous delight. Even if it is as you say and 
he thinks, that is no excuse for so disgraceful an 
exhibition of joy. Even if you are glad, you 
might at least have the decency to conceal the 
fact before poor Gladys, who has little cause for 
rejoicing." 

You are right," replied Bertha, with a grim 
intensity that caused Herbert to flinch from her 
as from some poisonous reptile. ‘‘ She has little 
cause, and will have less." 

“ What do you mean ?" he said ; but she had 
gone before he could prevent her. 

Convinced against his wdll, as he had been, by 
the assertive personality of the detective, when 
that was withdrawn he began to waver again 
in his opinion. It was so extraordinary, so 
unlike the lifelong habits, so foreign to the dis- 


How the Check was Presented. 63 


position of the old professor to take suddenly so 
reckless and ill-considered a step, without a 
word of warning to his beloved daughter, with- 
out a thought of the sufferings that such a pro- 
ceeding must inevitably entail upon her. No ! 
He would not, he could not believe it of him. 
It was beyond the power of his imagination to 
conceive of any compelling force sufficient to 
drive him to such a course of action. He knew 
that sins long hidden had before then risen up 
to confront the gravest-seeming men and frighten 
them from their propriety, but that, he felt sure, 
was out of the question in this case. He knew 
that men had fled from the disgrace of irretriev- 
able commercial ruin, but he knew also that no 
such disaster was threatening the professor. 
That the mere annoyance caused by his wife's 
unamiable temper should have worked upon him 
to such an extent, after he had endured it with 
irreproachable patience for so long, was incredi- 
ble. He could not deny the reasonableness of 
Mr. Wenlock’s conclusions, he could not im- 


64 PVas She PVi/e or Widow f 


peach the strength of the evidence against his 
own vague theory of some hideous deed, but he 
would not admit even to himself that Professor 
Purfleet had gone willingly. 

In the meantime, the sole step likely to prove 
of use, that he was free to take, was in the direc- 
tion of the bank, to make inquiries about the 
young man who had presented that mysterious 
check. He, surely, if he could be discovered, 
would be able to throw some light upon the 
professor’s whereabouts, to reveal, at all events, 
where he had met him, and so furnish one link 
in the chain of possible identification which he 
must have left lengthening behind him. A man 
cannot go any distance in London, even in the 
most silent hours of the night, without encoun- 
tering some few of his fellow-citizens who might 
have marked and remembered his appearance, if 
they could but be found. He presented a 
sufficiently notable figure, at any rate. His 
height, to be sure, was disguised somewhat by a 
stoop, but he was still remarkably brisk and 


How the Check was Presented. 65 


active for a man of his years, while his great 
head, with his long, white hair and flowing beard 
and mustache and keen, dark eyes shadowed by 
bushy brows, was sufficient to attract attention 
even in a crowd. Such a personality could not 
pass unmarked. 

As Herbert pursued his way, occupied with 
these and similar reflections, he found himself 
unconsciously seeking in each wayfarer some 
prominent characteristic of face or apparel by 
which he could in future recognize him, and he 
was astonished to find how slight had been his 
observation formerly and how little remarkable 
there was in most people. If this was so when 
he was purposely endeavoring to find some dis- 
tinguishing mark, how improbable was it that a 
mere wanderer should remember a casual 
encounter with a stranger to whom his careful 
attention would be in nowise invited. 

The cashier at the bank happened to be a per- 
sonal friend of Professor Purfleef s, and having 
more than once met Herbert at his house, will- 


66 


Was She Wife or Widow f 


ingly gave him all particulars concerning the 
young man with the check. He had come in 
almost immediately after the bank had been 
opened, and his early arrival had first attracted 
the speaker’s notice. He had advanced pretty 
briskly toward the paying-out department, but 
catching the cashier’s eye fixed upon him, had 
faltered and appeared to hesitate. There was 
nothing in his face or figure, he was certain, to 
lead him to believe that they had met before. 
After a moment’s pause, the young man once 
more advanced with obvious nervousness, and 
tendered the check to the clerk. In response to 
the usual signal arranged between them, the 
latter had passed it over to him. Carefully he 
had examined alternately the check and the 
bearer, who had unmistakably become more and 
more embarrassed beneath this close scrutiny. 

Satisfied as I was of the genuineness of the 
signature, the man’s uneasy manner so aroused 
my suspicions that I determined to proceed with 
caution. ‘ This is for rather a large amount,’ 1 


Hozv the Check was Presented, 67 


said. ‘Yes/ he answered, awkwardly, is 
rather unusual.’ There was something about 
his voice that was not altogether unknown to 
me. ‘ Did Professor Purfleet give you this 
himself?’ I asked. ‘ Yes.’ ‘And you are to take 
the money to him personally ?’ ‘ Yes.’ He con- 

fined his answers, as far as possible, to monosyl- 
lables, I noticed. ‘ I am sorry to inconvenience 
you,’ I remarked, ‘ but I cannot pay this without 
first consulting the professor. I have no doubt 
that it is all right, but we have to be careful, you 
know.’ I never saw such a startling change 
come over any man. He turned quite white. 
‘ What !’ he cried, with a ring of undisguised 
alarm in the words. ‘Not pay it!’ ‘ Not now,’ 
I answered, more convinced than ever that 
something was wrong. ‘ This afternoon or to- 
morrow morning I shall doubtless be able to 
oblige you.’ ‘Not pay it 1 ’ he exclaimed again 
in a voice that was almost a wail. ‘ I am ver}^ 
sorry,’ I said, ‘ but I cannot.’ He paused for a 
moment, pale and aghast, and then stammering 


68 


Was She W ife or Widow ? 


hurriedly: ^Very well; I will call again to- 
morrow/ he turned and hastened away. I had, 
for an instant, some thoughts of detaining him, 
but the signature I knew Avas good, so that it 
was rather a ticklish matter, and I let him go 
unhindered.'' 

That was unfortunate," said Herbert. You 
do not know, perhaps, that Professor Purfleet 
has disappeared." 

Disappeared ! You don't sa3^so," exclaimed 
the Horrified cashier. 

Briefly Herbert related to him all that there 
was to tell. 

What a strange, what an extraordinary 
affair!" said the cashier. 

'' The young man, of course, has not returned 
to claim his inone^^" remarked Herbert. 

He has not." 

I thought as much. If he does, you will 
arrest him at all hazards. You see how import- 
ant his evidence might be. Now, can you 
describe him to me?" 


How the Check was Presented, 69 


He was tall/' answered the cashier, reflect- 
ively as if drawing from a mental image ; five 
feet ten or eleven, I should say. Dark hair, 
eyes and mustache. Decidedly good-looking, 
and with the air of a gentleman in spite of his 
uneasiness. Nose as far as I remember 
straight." 

‘‘ Do you recollect what he was wearing, by 
any chance ?" 

‘‘ Nothing particularly conspicuous. General 
effect, dark. Stop ! There was something odd 
about his hat, which gave him an old-fashioned 
or rustic appearance. It was, I fancy, lower in 
the crown and broader in the brim than it is the 
fashion to wear them now." 

“ Not much to go upon," thought Herbert, des- 
pairingly, when he had taken leave of his 
friend, the cashier. ‘‘ He must be traced, how- 
ever, though it won't do to advertise." 

That this method of endeavoring to unearth 
him would be dangerous, if not fatal, to the suc- 
cess of his plans, he did not doubt. That Pro- 


70 


TVas She Wife or Widozv ? 


fessor Purfleet, fearing, as the detective had 
suggested, to go in person to the bank, should 
have employed an ordinary messenger to draw 
the money for him was quite probable, but that 
he should have told the man he sent the reasons 
he had for not going himself was too absurd for 
credence ; and yet, if he had not done so, what 
was there to account for the young man’s 
nervousness and distress ? Why, moreover, had 
he shrunk from too close observation when 
engaged upon a simple matter of business ? 
The detective might be very clever, but there 
was something unaccounted for — something 
which, if discovered, would put a new com- 
plexion altogether upon the affair. 

He bought an evening paper from a boy who 
passed him, hoarsely vociferating : Winner!” 

and the first thing that caught his eye was an 
advertisement: 

fWriSSING-A GENTLEMAN AGED SEV- 
enty-five. Hair, beard and mustache long 
and white. Believed to have been wearing 


How the Check was Presented, 


7 ^ 


dark overcoat and tall hat, and to have carried 
a bag or portmanteau. Any information con- 
cerning his whereabouts, or leading to his identi- 
fication, will be amply rewarded. Apply to 
WENLOCK, 395 Grasmere street, E. C. 



CHAPTER VL 

HOW HERBERT FOUND A FRIEND. 

Men may disappear from among their fellow. 
creatures either by the orthodox instrumentality 
of the sick-room, the doctor and the undertaker, 
or in the less conventional fashion adopted, 
willingly or not, by Professor Purfleet ; but, in 
either case, though hearts may grieve or crim- 
inals hang, the work of the world goes humming 
on and lingers not, though one infinitesimal cog 
has fallen or been thrust from its place. 

So it was that after the chemistry course at 
the Cosmopolitan College had been suspended 
for two days, to the great inconvenience of hun- 
dreds of students and to the no small delight of 
a majority of them, steps were taken to replace 
[72] 


How Herbert Found a Friend. 


73 


the missing professor. Owing to the sudden- 
ness of his departure, it was no easy task to find 
at once a competent substitute, and consequently 
Herbert, having expressed his belief that he was 
capable of continuing the interrupted discourses, 
was temporarily promoted to the post of 
lecturer, pending some news of Professor Pur- 
fleet, or, failing that, more permanent arrange- 
ments. 

On taking his place the first day, he observed 
a student seated at the right-hand corner of the 
lowest bench, whom he did not remember to 
have seen in the theatre before, though his face 
seemed not altogether unknown to him. Need- 
ing in the course of the morning’s proceedings 
some of that practical assistance which he him- 
self had been wont to supply to the professor, 
he asked it from this young man, as being 
nearest at hand, and was unspeakably astonished 
at the intelligence and dexterity he displayed in 
completing one or two particularly delicate and 
intricate experiments. 


74 


IVas She Wife or Widow? 


Thank you very much/' he said, as the 
students were departing. Have you another 
lecture to attend, or can you spare me a few 
minutes* conversation ?’* 

I have no other engagement,** said the young 
man, awkwardly. 

Then come with me,** said Herbert, and led 
the way to the barely furnished room opening 
into the lecture theatre, which was devoted to 
the private use of the professor. 

You are a new member here, are you not ?** 
he asked. ‘‘ I do not remember to have seen 
your face before.’* 

Yes, I am new,** he answered. 

What is your name, if I may ask?** 

Pelew,** he said, with such curious difficulty 
in getting out the word, that Herbert thought he 
must be afflicted with some impediment in his 
speech. 

Pelew,** repeated Herbert. ‘‘ Excuse me, 
but have we met before? Both your face and 
voice seem to me to be remarkably familiar.** 


How Herbert Found a Friend, 


75 


“ No/’ said Pelevv, with singular assurance, 
‘‘you are mistaken. We have never met 
before. ” 

“Why, how can you be so sure?” inquired 
Herbert, surprised at the decisiveness of this 
denial. 

“ Because — ” stammered Pelew, flushing uneas- 
il}’', “ because I — I never forget a face, and — 
and, besides, I have only just arrived from — 
from St. Andrews.” 

“ Ah !” exclaimed Herbert, “ you have been 
studjdng chemistry there, I suppose?” 

“ Yes,” replied Pelew, briefly. 

“ I thought you were an old hand, Mr. 
Pelew,” said Herbert, laughingly. “ If I may 
say so to your face, I was surprised and 
delighted at your skill and certainty.” 

“ Thank you !” said he, but without any trace 
of that glow of satisfaction which usually 
accompanies the receipt of gratifying commen- 
dation from a teacher to a pupil. Pelew 


76 


TVas She Wife or Widow f 


appeared to take Herbert's unqualified praise 
as though it were a matter of course. 

“ And that," continued Herbert, ‘‘ brings me 
to the business of which I wish to speak. 
You are aware, perhaps, of the singular cir- 
cumstances connected with my provisional 
elevation to the lectureship ?" 

Pelew nodded an affirmative, but did not 
speak. 

“ Well," Herbert went on, ‘‘ I have a proposal 
to make to you. 1 cannot at present, in the 
unsettled state of affairs, make you any official 
offer, nor can I promise you any financial 
reward — " 

‘^That is of no importance," interposed Pelew, 

‘‘ I am glad to hear it," said Herbert, for 
your sake as well as my own. It smooths 
away all difficulties, and enables me to ask you 
plainly whether, under these conditions, you 
will continue regularly the services you so 
obligingly rendered me to-day ?" 


How Herbert Fotind a Friend, 77 


I shall be delighted/’ said Pelew, and so it 
was arranged. 

“ There is something very odd about that 
young fellow Pelew/’ said Herbert to himself, 
when he was left alone ; but though this was 
certainly the prevailing impression left upon 
his mind, he could find nothing in the man’s 
appearance to account for it. He was tall and 
good-looking, with dark hair and eyes, and 
unmistakably a gentleman in spite of an occa- 
sional shade of awkwardness in tone and man- 
ner. And yet beyond a doubt there was some- 
thing odd. His expression was open and 
frank, yet he was singularly reserved and silent, 
and seemed to be habitually sitting on guard 
over his words and actions. There was about 
him none of that expansiveness and self-satis- 
faction which might have been looked for in a 
young fellow who had been so quickly advanced 
to his position, an exultation the more to be 
expected the more its originating success was 
deserved. And certainly in his case the confi- 


78 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


dence reposed in him was amply justified. 
Every day Herbert wondered more and more 
at his profound knowledge and skillful manipu- 
lation of the materials of his chosen science. 
More than once he had rescued Herbert from 
an awkward predicament by unostentatiously 
intervening and carrying to a successful ending 
an experiment which he was on the point of 
ruining through unavoidable lack of experience. 

‘‘Upon my word, Pelew,’’ he said to him in 
an undertone on one of these occasions, “ I feel 
a perfect fraud. You are much more fit to 
stand here and teach me than I am to boss it over 
you. Suppose we change places for the 
future ?’' 

His assistant looked hard at him for a moment, 
with an enigmatical expression in his eyes, and 
then turned away to attend to his further duties. 

Yet another point with regard to Pelew 
puzzled Herbert mightily. In spite of the latter’s 
unhesitating declaration to the contrary, he 
could not shake off the conviction that he and 


How Herbert Found a Friend, 


79 


his friend — for so he soon became — had some- 
where met before. Rack his brains as he would, 
he could connect him with neither time nor place, 
yet constant failure did not daunt him. Curi- 
ously enough, the vague recollections floating in 
his mind, if ever they took fleeting hold any- 
where, attached themselves to the years of his 
early boyhood, and returned thither more than 
once, regardless of the fact that Pelew must have 
been an infant at the time, if even he had by 
then been added to the struggling millions of 
humanity. 

In the end, he was fain to relegate these fan- 
cies to the realms of imagination, and to attribute 
Pelew’s oddity to the old-fashioned bringing-up 
of a country homestead. 

Meanwhile, though a fortnight had elapsed, 
nothing had transpired to solve the riddle of 
Professor Purfleet’s occultation. Herbert had 
held several interviews with Mr. Wenlock; but 
that gentleman, though adhering steadfastly to 
his original interpretation of the facts, was forced 


8o 


JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


to own that never, in all his experience, had lie 
come across so complete and dexterous a des- 
truction of all trail. At no hotel, no railway 
station, cab rank or seaport could any one be 
found who had seen the tall gentleman with long 
white hair and beard, whose appearance and 
disappearance were by then well known over 
the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. 

“ Extraordinary disappearance of a professor 
of chemistry was at that time a headline com- 
mon to every newspaper in every land where 
English is spoken, and beyond. 

Rumors unnumbered sprang from the fertile 
brains of ingenious journalists, spread and died 
away, but all the authentic information amounted 
to one fact : ‘‘ Nothing is known.’' 

The young man who had presented the check 
was equally undiscoverable. He had, with some 
difficulty, been traced back from the bank to a 
well-known railway hotel, at which he had 
arrived late the night before, but when the fold- 
ing-doors of the bank swung to behind him, they 


How Herbert Found a Friend, 


8i 


had cut the clew as neatly and effectually as if 
they had been the shears of Lachesis herself. If 
the finding of Professor Purfleet depended upon 
his evidence, it would apparently be deferred 
to the end of time. 

Bertha, as the days slipped away, openly 
rejoiced in her emancipation, and this uncon- 
cealed expression of her true feelings, added to 
the talent of tormenting Gladys to the utmost, 
which she had perfected by constant practice, 
rendered the poor girl's life unendurable. 

In vain Herbert remonstrated with her. She 
listened defiantly, and only replied by redoub- 
ling the number and force of her stings. 

‘‘ Why can't you leave her in peace ?’' he said. 
‘‘ Poor dear ! She has enough to suffer without 
your interference." 

‘‘ I am quite aware of it," replied Bertha, coolly. 
‘‘ But revenge is sweet. I don't profess to be an 
angel. I am a woman, and own to all the weak- 
nesses of my kind. She has made me suffer 


82 Was She Wife or Widow ? 

bitterly enough. Why should I not make her 
suffer in return T 

** She has made you suffer !*' cried Herbert. 

Gladys! Why, she would not hurt a worm !” 

I am not a worm. Perhaps that is the rea 
son,'' she answered, dryly. 

Look here, Bertha," said he. I don't know 
what you fancy Gladys has done to injure you 
though I'm sure, whatever it may be, it was 
quite unintentional on her part — " 

Perhaps," interjected Bertha. 

“ But one thing is clear," he continued. You 
two will never succeed in living happily 
together. Why don't you separate, and put an 
end at once to all this misery ?" 

“ Gladys is much too young to live alone." 

There is no reason on earth why she should. 
We have been engaged now for more than a year. 
What is there to prevent our getting married 
without further delay ?" 

You are aware, I suppose, that Gladys is not 
yet of age," she answered. ‘‘ And that during 


How Herbert Found a Friend. 83 


the iniquitous absence of her father, I am her 
lawful guardian/' 

‘‘ I know, of course, that your consent is neces- 
sary, but that consent — " 

'' I must positively decline to give," she 
interrupted firmly. 

‘‘Why, in the name of goodness?" he 
exclaimed. 

“ Why she flashed out, and then suddenly 
relapsing into her accustomed coldness, went on : 
“ In the present doubt as to the fate of her 
father, any such rejoicings would be indecent." 

“ There need be no rejoicings," answered Her- 
bert, contemptuously. “We could be married 
quietly without fuss, and no one a penny the 
wiser." 

“ No," she said ; “ 1 cannot hear of it. It 
would be unseemly, not to say improper." 

“ Come, Bertha," he remarked, impatiently, 
“ you know as well as I do that that is not your 
real reason." 

“ You are right,’' she answered, fiercely. “ It 


84 


PVas She Wife or Widow ^ 


is not. 1 hate her! I hate her! I hate her! 
And do you think I will consent to her marrying 
you, when I know that it would make her 
happy? Never, while it is in my power to 
prevent it !’' 

Herbert was appalled at this irrational and 
unjustifiable vindictiveness. It was as foolish, as 
unanswerable as the idle passion of an angry 
child, and it was some time before he could find 
words for his alternative proposal. 

‘'Well,'' he said, finally, “if you persist in 
refusing to take that way out of the difficulty, 
there is still another : Let Gladys go and reside 
with my mother, who will, I feel sure, be only 
too happy to welcome her and make her at 
home." 

“Yes," sneered Bertha, “that you may have 
the opportunity of carrying out your quiet 
marriage without my consent !’' 

There is no adequate answer for a gentleman 
to make to such a base insinuation, when it pro- 
ceeds from the lips of a woman, and Herbert 


How Herbert Found a Frie^id, 85 


rose and went away without trusting himself to 
speak. 

Pelew and Herbert were enjoying a friendly 
smoke in the latter's chambers that night — a 
custom which was rapidly developing into a 
habit, when Mr. Wenlock was announced. 

‘‘Don't go, Pelew, unless you would rather," 
said Herbert, as the young man rose on the 
detective's entrance. “ I don't think there is 
anything you may not hear. Eh, Wenlock?" 

“ No, Mr. Torrington ; I can't say that there 
is," he answered, casting his usual fleeting glance 
over the face and figure of Herbert's guest. 

“Mr. Pelew — Mr. Wenlock," said Herbert. 
“ Sit down and take a cigar and a drop of 
whiskey." 

“ Thank you, sir," said Mr. Wenlock ; “ I don't 
care if I do." 

“Any news?" asked Herbert, when the new 
arrival was comfortably disposed ; and turning 
to Pelew, he added : “ Mr. Wenlock is conduct- 


86 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


ing the inquiries for my poor friend, Professor 
Purfleet;’ 

Indeed !*’ remarked Pelew, blowing a volume 
of smoke from his pipe, which remained floating 
lazily round his head. 

‘‘ Yes, sir,’* replied Wenlock, turning upon him 
quickly. Are you interested at all in the 
affair ?” 

Well, yes, naturally,” answered Pelew, puff- 
ing away vigorously. As it interests my — my 
friend, it interests me.” 

‘‘Of course it would. No, sir, there isn’t any 
news,” he went on, turning once more to 
Herbert ; “and what is more, there won’t be any 
news until I can lay my hand on the young man 
who took that check to the bank. What’s the 
matter, sir ?” 

The last remark was addressed to Pelew, who, 
owing presumably to the ferocity with which he 
had been drawing at his pipe, burst into a violent 
fit of coughing. 


How Herbert Found a Friend, 8 7 


Nothing, nothing,'' he gasped in answer. 
Smoke — went — wrong way." 

'‘Yes, it is rather thick," said Mr. Wenlock. 
" Perhaps, Mr. Torrington, you wouldn't mind 
opening the window a bit. It's rather too much 
for me." 

" By all means," said Herbert, rising to carry 
out the suggestion. " Do you object, Pelew?" 

" I ?" said he, with some impatience. " No, 
of course not. Why should I object?" 

The desired result was quickly obtained, and 
the atmosphere became rapidly clearer. 

" Yes, sir," continued Mr. Wenlock, dividing 
his remarks impartially between Torrington 
and Pelew, " that young man is the keystone, or, 
to speak more accurately, the foundation-stone 
of the building. When he is found, the matter 
v/ill be simple. Mark my words, sir, he knows 
where Professor Purfleet is." 

“ But who can he be, and what can he know 
about it ?" objected Herbert. 


88 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


“ That I cannot possibly tell as yet. Some 
friend of the professor’s, perhaps.” 

“ That can’t very well be, or I should know 
him ; and I can think of no one in the least 
answering to the description.” 

“ Excuse me, sir,” said Mr. Wenlock, with 
apparent irrelevance, “ how old may you hap- 
pen to be ?” 

“ Getting on for thirty-one,” answered Her- 
bert, smiling at the singularity of the question. 

“And you, sir?” continued the detective, 
turning to Pelew. 

“Twenty — ah — twenty-five,” he replied, with 
strange hesitation. 

“ Young men, both,” said Mr. Wenlock. 
“ Now do either of you mean to tell me that you 
imagine that, taking your most intimate friend, 
you know every friend, acquaintance or tie he 
may possess, even at the present moment ?” 

“ Well, no, of course not,” assented Herbert, 
grudgingly. 

“Of course not,” repeated Mr. Wenlock, 


How Herbert Found a Frie 7 id. 89 


cheerily. “ Professor Purfleet was seventy- 
five, I believe. Take thirty from seventy-five, 
and forty-five remain. You've known the pro- 
fessor from your childhood, I think, Mr. Tor- 
rington, but we must take fifteen from that 
because, before that age, you can’t be expected 
to have known much of him. That leaves sixty 
3"ears. A good deal may happen in sixt}’^ years." 

'‘What do you mean?" said Herbert, who 
failed to catch the drift of all this calculation. 

" Mr. Pelew sees what I mean, I fancy," said 
Mr. Wenlock, glancing at that gentleman, who 
was noisily blowing his nose. " I mean that how 
can you tell what connections, open or otherwise, 
respectable or the reverse. Professor Purfleet 
may have made and broken before you knew 
him. Old sores have a nasty way of breaking 
out when least expected, as many a man has 
found to his cost." 

“ But this man is reported to have been quite 
young." 

" About twenty-five, I believe," observed Mr. 


90 


TVas She Wife or Widow? 


VVenlock, carelessly. Got a cold in your 
head, sir ?’' 

‘‘Yes,’' said Pelevv. “I’ll ask you to excuse 
my running away, Torrington, if you don’t 
mind. I don’t want to inconvenience you by 
having the window shut, but, as Mr. Wenlock 
says, I have a bad cold, and this draught is 
making it worse every minute. Good night ! 
Good night, Mr. Wenlock !” 

“ Good night, sir!” said Mr. Wenlock, affably, 
“ Hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again 
some time or other.” 

“Who is that young man?” asked Wenlock 
when Pelevv had departed. 

“ I told you — Mr. Pelew.” 

“ Yes. I mean, what is he?” 

“ He is my assistant at the college.’' 

“ Oh, indeed. Been in London long, do you 
know ?” 

“ No. Only a few weeks, I believe.” 

“ Know much of him ?” 


How Herbert Found a Friend, 


91 


“ Not much, I must allow. He seems to me a 
nice, gentlemanly young fellow.*’ 

Oh, very, very,** responded Mr. Wenlock, 
heartily. Did he know Professor Purfleet ?’* 
Not that I know of. I don*t think he was in 
London long before he disappeared.** 

Seems very interested in the case, however.** 
‘‘Well, you know, it is an interesting case.*’ 
“Oh, very, very,** said Mr. Wenlock. “ Ver 3 ^ 
Much more interesting than 1 suspected.** 

Herbert was prevented from inquiring more 
closely into the meaning of this remark, the tone 
of which gave it a significance deeper than the 
words, by a knock at the door. In response to 
his invitation to come in, a roughly dressed man, 
carrying a bandbox, appeared. 

“ I heard as you was here, Mr. Wenlock,** he 
said, “ so I took the liberty of following with this. 
Found full of stones in the river near Waterloo 
Bridge.** 

He produced as he spoke a faded,; water-stained 


92 


Was S/ie Wife or Widow ? 


silk hat, in the crown of which, written in ink 
much weakened by immersion, was the name of 
“ R. Purfleet.” 



CHAPTER VII. 

HOW HE INTRODUCED HIM. 

He still remains unshaken in his original 
belief, and will not allow even the chance of a 
possibility that I am correct.*' 

Herbert and Pelew were walking together in 
the direction of the Purfleets' house, and discuss- 
ing on the way the incomprehensible fate of its 
late master. The hat found in the river, which 
to Herbert had seemed conclusive proof of foul 
play, had been altogether inadequate to under- 
mine Wenlock’s assurance to the contrary. 

'' ‘ No, sir,' " said Herbert, quoting the detect- 
ive's words, ‘ so far from tending to throw any 
doubt upon my version of the story, 1 regard it 

[93] 


94 


JVas She Wife or Widozv ? 


as a confirmation/ ^ How so?’ I asked. ‘ Well/ 
he said, ‘ putting on one side for the rnoment — 
though it is a most important factor in the prob- 
lem — putting aside your inability to explain how 
the old gentleman was so noiselessly removed 
from the house, I will ask you one little question : 
Do you suppose that a criminal would have run 
the risk of carrying that damaging piece of 
evidence through the streets to the river, when 
in a few minutes he could have destroyed it 
utterly by fire ?' ” 

There is certainly something in that,” said 
Pelew. 

Yes, but as I said to him, why couldn’t the 
professor, or his friend, for I don’t quite under- 
stand to whom you attribute the act, have got 
rid of it in the same way ?” 

What answer had he to that not impertinent 
question ?” 

“ Because, he said, an act which would go 
intentionally unmarked among a class accus- 
tomed to willfully ignore one another’s proceed- 


How He Introduced Him, 


95 


ings however suspicious, would at once excite 
notice in a higher state of life, say in a hotel or 
lodging-house/’ 

By Jove! he is an uncommonly shrewd 
fellow, that,” said Pelew, with extraordinary 
appreciation. Perhaps after all he may be 
right, and your old friend still alive.” 

‘‘ I would give all I have to be able to believe 
so,” exclaimed Herbert, fervently. 

Were you then so much attached to your old 
master?” asked Pelew, with some feeling. 

‘‘ Attached to him !” cried Hbrbert. He was 
the best and truest friend to me, that man could 
have. If I felt sure that he had wandered or fled 
away, no matter for what reason, I would follow 
and find him wherever he lay hid. There can be 
no cause for his exile that time and devotion 
would hot remove. I would stake my existence, 
in spite of Wenlock’s inuendoes, that there is 
nothing disgraceful at the bottom of the mystery. 
If it is shown, as I fear too much it may be, that 
he has suffered violence, 1 will not rest until I 


g6 IVas She Wife or Widow 9 

have fully proved the case against his murderer, 
and brought her to justice, be she who she may/' 
‘ She !' " said Pelew, in great surprise. 

'' Did I say ‘ she?' " stammered Herbert, ashamed 
of having unconsciously betrayed the lurking 
suspicions of Bertha which he still nourished. I 
mean ‘ he.' No, my old friend, if he is dead, shall 
not be unavenged ; if he is alive, shall not remain 
unsought or unsuccored." 

‘^Herbert!" cried Pelew, passionately, seizing 
his hand, his eyes glistening with unshed tears 
— I beg your pardon — Torrington, you are a 
good fellow, and it is a privilege to know you. 
Such affection as yours, in this self-seeking age, 
is like a breath of purer air. May I some day 
win and deserve a small share of it?" 

'' My dear fellow," replied Herbert with equal 
fervor, you have already won it. Call me 
‘Herbert' always, and let there be an end of 
formality between us." 

A silent hand-shake ratified the bargain 
between the two young men. 


PELEW’S DISCOMFITURE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE DETECTIVE.-*S’ee Pttlje 87 






How He introduced Him. 97 

Herbert’s declaration was by no means an 
empty outburst, born of the enthusiasm of the 
moment, but the solid outcome of several weeks’ 
close watchfulness. He was not of an over- 
cautious or distrustful spirit, but he was slow in 
giving away his friendship, and it was not until 
he had observed again and again Pelew’s 
modest simplicity, undeviating right-thinking 
and immovable moral courage that he had 
extended to him his full sympathy and regard. 
Pelew had seemed at first to hold back from too 
close intimacy ; but it was impossible to offer 
long opposition to Herbert’s frank cordiality, 
and, one by one, the barriers of his reserve had 
yielded. The day that he was admitted to his 
friend’s lodging Herbert felt that the victory 
was finally and completely won. A bare and 
poor lodging enough it was, on the top story 
of a dingy house in Charlotte street, comprising 
one room alone for eating and sleeping, scantily 
furnished, but bearing in every detail the stamp 
of ceaseless^ laborious work. Every available 


98 tVas She Wife or Widow 9 


level surface was covered with apparatus and 
materials displaying a series of experiments the 
meaning and object of which Herbert, with all 
his scientific training, was unable to divine. 

Why, what on earth are you up to here ?*' 
he exclaimed without thinking. 

Oh, nothing, nothing,'' answered Pelew, 
blushing. I am a bit of a physiologist as well 
as a chemist, and I am studying certain agents 
to retard and promote decay without injury, 
that is all.'’ 

Herbert, fearful of appearing to inquire too 
closely into his friend's hoped-for discoveries, a 
subject on which scientific men have the reputa- 
tion of being not a little jealous, put the ques- 
tion by, and turned his attention to the chamber. 

Do you live here altogether ?" he asked. 

Here and at the college. Oh, it might be 
worse, you know," he added, seeing Herbert’s 
glance of pity. 

Herbert paced the room in silence for some 
minutes, and then blurted out, with the kindly 


How He Introduced Him, 


99 


awkwardness of an honest young Englishman 
anxious to offer a favor, yet fearing to offend : 

Look here, Pelew ; when I offered you that 
post of assistant you said that money was no 
object. Now, of course, until I’m either installed 
or chucked, I can’t make any regular arrange- 
ment ; but if I can assist you in any way, 1 hope 
you’ll look upon it as a right, not as a kind- 
ness.” 

‘‘ Thank you, Torrington,” said Pelew, grate- 
fully. I’m all right at present, I assure you. 
I’m not rich, you know, but I’ve got enough to 
go on with. If I should need help at any time, 
either financial or otherwise, 1 promise you that 
you shall be the first person I will apply to.” 

All right,” said Herbert. “ You may be sure 
you won’t have to try a second.” 

After this first visit, Herbert not infrequently 
dropped in to see Pelew in the course of an 
evening’s stroll, and invariably found him alone, 
bending studiously over his phials and mixtures. 


lOO 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


“ I say, old chap,'’ he said, one night, do you 
never go out anywhere?” 

^'Oh, I go for a walk, now and then, to blow 
the cobwebs out of my eyes.” 

But I mean to dinners, and parties, and all 
that kind of thing.” 

No,” said Pelew, a little sadly. '‘You see, 
Fm a stranger in London and know no one.” 

Herbert was grieved at the thought of this 
solitary student-life, contrasting it with the many 
festivities which were always open to him when 
he chose to avail himself of them, and wonder- 
ing whether he could not share with his lonely 
friend some part of the plenty which he often 
found a burden for himself. These reflections 
culminated in a resolution; there was, at all 
events, one house in London where any friend 
of his would meet with a welcome. 

" It isn’t good for you to be shut up with your 
work so much,” he said. " I don’t care a great 
deal for what they call society myself, but I 
should like to introduce you to some friends of 


How He Introduced Him, 


lOI 


mine, where you would meet, at all events, with 
some companionship. I wish you would let me 
take you to call on the Purfleets.'' 

‘ The Purfleets ?’ cried Pelew, springing to 
his feet with sudden delight. Will you — would 
you — I mean — I don't know. I — Pm not much 
company — and perhaps — no ; on the whole, I 
think it might be better not." 

Better not ?" exclaimed Herbert. My dear 
fellow, why, in the name of goodness?" 

“ Well — in fact — in short," hesitated Pelew, 
'' Pm a bad hand at making friends." 

All the more reason for having them made 
for you. 1 think I can pledge myself to insure 
you a favorable reception." 

It’s very good of you," said Pelew, regret- 
fully. '' No, I think Pd rather not." 

‘‘ Oh, bosh !" observed Herbert, with jovial 
contempt. That’s only your confounded shy- 
ness. When will you come — to-morrow ?" 

‘‘ I don’t know — I’ll see. Pll think it over, 
and let you know." 


102 


PVas She Wife or Widow? 


In spite of this promise, ten days elapsed 
before Herbert could get any explicit answer to 
his frequent pressing, and it was only when he 
was convinced that Pelew really wished to go, 
and was withheld by some inexplicable objection, 
that he insisted upon carrying his point almost 
by main force ; and having driven him into a 
corner in the vain attempt to find some valid 
reason for further postponing the intended 
introduction, took him by the arm one afternoon, 
and walked him off to call upon the Purfleets, 
without giving him time or opportunity to 
declare that he would not go. 

Bertha came out of the dining-room as they 
were taking off their overcoats in the hall, and 
Herbert at once presented Mr. Pelew to her. 
He bowed with extreme awkwardness, and she 
responded with icy courtesy. 

1 want to speak to you for a moment, Her- 
bert,'* she said, after this unfriendly greeting, 
if you can spare me a minute from Gladys." 


How He hitroduced Him. 


103 


“ All right,” said Herbert, adding, as he turned 
to Pelew, “ excuse me a moment, old fellow.” 

“ Oh, certainly,” replied he. “ Never mind 
me, I know the way. I mean — all these London 
houses are so much alike.'' And he began to 
ascend the stairs in much confusion. 

What's the matter ?" said Herbert to Bertha, 
thinking, with amused surprise, that Pelew's 
bashfulness had already proved too much for his 
manners. 

Who is that man ?" she asked, in a low 
voice. 

“ Pelew, my assistant at the college." 

I don't like him. Don't bring him here 
again." 

'' Oh, nonsense !" replied Herbert, laughing. 
“That's another of your absurd prejudices. 
You needn't receive him unless you like." 

“ I tell you, 1 hate him ! He is dangerous," 
she said. 

“ Dangerous?" he exclaimed. “ What do you 
mean ?" 


104 


PVas She Wife or Widow? 


I can’t explain ; but I feel certain some 
trouble will come of his presence here. I dis- 
like him instinctively.” she answered, and with- 
drew into the dining-room. 

Herbert was on his way upstairs, thinking, 
partly with amusement, partly with indignation, 
of this latest product of Bertha’s wild fancy, 
when he heard a door open on the landing above. 
A burst of excited barking followed. Pelewwas 
standing, nervous and uneasy, with Gladys’s pet 
dog. Chlorine — so named in jest by the profes- 
sor because of its )"ellow color — leaping and 
whining round his knees ; while Gladys herself, 
at a little distance, was leaning with one hand on 
the back of a chair, from which she had evi- 
dently just risen, pale and trembling, with 
parted lips and staring eyes. 

'‘Why, what is the matter, Gladys?” cried 
Herbert, gazing in amazement on this strange 
reception. 

" I — I’m afraid it’s my fault,” said Pelew, 
anxiously. " Miss Purfleet, I fancy, was expect- 


How He Introduced Him. 


105 

ing some one else, and my sudden appearance 
startled her/* 

Yes, yes,’* said Gladys, eagerly; I thought 
it was you, and I — I was startled.** 

“ Why, my dear child,** said Herbert, sooth- 
ingly. ^‘You are shaking all over. Sit down. 
We must have a doctor for you if your nerves 
are so easily upset as this.** 

“ Oh, I shall be all right directly,** she replied, 
sinking into the chair he offered her. '' I am 
not very well to-day, but I shall soon be better 
without a doctor’s assistance.” 

‘‘ And now,” continued Herbert, let me for- 
mally introduce to you my friend and invaluable 
assistant, Mr. Pelew.” 

I am very glad to see you, Mr. Pelew,” she 
said with an expression of warmth unusual 
toward so new an acquaintance. 

Take a chair, Pelew,*' said Herbert. Never 
mind the dog; he won’t bite you. Down, Chlor- 
ine ! Down, sir !” 

Chlorine, however, took no notice of this 


io6 IVas She Wife or Widow ? 

injunction, but continued leaping and barking 
round Pelevv until he took a seat, when spring- 
ing upon his lap he made desperate efforts to lick 
his hands and face. 

To relieve the embarrassment of Pelew, and 
give Gladys time to recover her lost equanimity, 
Herbert chatted away for some time without 
receiving any material assistance fro^n either of 
his companions, but by degrees each interposed 
a remark more and more frequently, until the 
conversation became general. 

Gladys continued with quiet insistence to 
bring up again, after every diversion Herbert 
created in fear lest she should once more break 
down, the subject of her father, his incompre- 
hensible withdrawal from home and her fervent 
longing for his return. Through all her remarks 
ran a strange vein of appeal, and she addressed 
them much more to Pelew than to Herbert, 
doubtless out of compassion for his still uncon- 
quered shyness. This thoughtfulness on her 
part entirely failed of its purpose, for his mani- 


How He Introduced Him. 


107 


fest discomposure increased every moment ; and 
when Herbert, in continuance of some observa- 
tion of hers, began to speak highly in praise of 
the professor, he broke into a queer fit of nervous 
laughter. 

By the way, Gladys,'* said Herbert, haven’t 
you got somewhere a photograph or something 
of that sort of your father, taken when he was 
young? You might show it to Pelew.” 

The latter gave no expression to even a polite 
pretense of wishing to see it, and Gladys fret- 
fully declared that she had not got such a thing. 
Why, you certainly had one,” said Herbert, 
wondering. I remember 3’our bringing it 
down to show me, one night some years ago, 
shortly after 1 came back to town.” 

“ Yes, yes, I know,” said Gladys, quickly. 1 
had one, but it’s gone — it’s lost. I don’t know 
where it is now.” 

Not long afterward, the young men rose to go^ 
and Gladys, as she shook hands with Pelew, said, 
in a voice of extreme interest : 


loS 


PVas She Wife or Widow ? 


You must come and see me again. You will, 
won’t you ? Promise me that you will.” 

Oh, yes, of course. I will — if I can — that is, 
if I may.” 

“Why, old fellow,” exclaimed Herbert, “of 
course you may when you’re asked to. 

“There, you see,” he went on, when they 
were outside the house, “ it’s not so terrible after 
all, though I must say you seemed jolly uncom- 
fortable at times. Isn’t she a charming girl?” 

“ She is, indeed,” said Pelew with conviction. 

“ And now, look here !” continued Herbert. 
“ You’ve got to keep up the acquaintance. She 
asked 3"Ou to come and see her again, and I’m 
going to take care you do it. It isn’t everybody 
she’d take the trouble to say that to, and you 
must show that you appreciate the compliment.” 

“ Of course, I know,” answered Pelew, with 
some irritation. “ I will, some day.” 

“ Do 3^ou know,” said Herbert, in the fullness 
of his heart, “ I’ve half a mind to tell you. I 
will.” 


How He Introduced Him. 1O9 

And tell him he did, at considerable length, of 
the manifold, unparalleled attractions of Gladys, 
and how he had years before fallen in love with 
her, and how they were engaged, to all of which 
his companion listened abstractedly, and con- 
gratulated him without enthusiasm when he had 
concluded, which did not happen until their 
walk was concluded also. 

Meanwhile Gladys, in the seclusion of her own 
room, was carefully locking away in a drawer 
containing her most private treasures the photo- 
graph of a dark-haired, good-looking young 


man. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

HOW MISCHIEF IS MADE. 

If Mr. Wenlock was correct in his theory with 
regard to Professor Purfleet, that old gentleman 
had effected his retreat from the cares and 
responsibilities of his life with an astuteness and 
circumspection that would have done credit to a 
red Indian withdrawing from the proximity of 
an overwhelming force of the enemy. The bur- 
rowing animal which conceals itself in the sand 
so quickly that no spade, though wielded by the 
hands of the most skillful digger, can overtake 
it, could not have vanished more utterly and 
rapidly. He had simply walked out of his house 
into the London streets some time between mid- 
night and morning, and been lost sight of com- 
[iio] 



Hozv Mischief is Made. 


1 1 1 


pletely. By that time, indeed, he had been 
almost forgotten. The headline disappeared 
from the papers, the advertisement was with- 
drawn, and the nine days* wonder, like all of its 
kind, gave place to some successor. 

No further arrangements had been as yet made 
by the council of the Cosmopolitan College, and 
Herbert continued to act as temporary lecturer, 
with the able volunteer assistance of Mr. Pelew. 
This young man seemed to be suffering from 
some secret grief, the cause of which Herbert 
was unable to fathom. Day by day he came to 
his duties more self-absorbed, more gloomy and 
more depressed than ever. Herbert thinking, 
not unnaturally, that his difficulties might 
probably be of a pecuniary nature, renewed his 
offer of aid in that direction, but was met by the 
same assurance that he had quite enough to go 
on with, and was forced to be content with that 
reply. All his endeavors to discover what other 
troubles were weighing so heavily on his young 
friend were equally unsuccessful, and he desisted 


I 12 


T4^as She Wife or Widow ? 


finally from his inquiries, unwilling to appear to 
be prying uninvited into a distress which he was 
plainly given to understand he had no right to 
know of and no power to alleviate. 

Herbert's own life-current at this time was not 
without its disturbing elements, and having 
decisively ascertained that Pelew would have 
none of his advice or support, he found quite 
sufficient matter for reflection and agitation in 
his own affairs. Bertha persisted in her persecu 
tion of Gladys, whose growing melancholy filled 
Herbert with alarm. All remonstrance with 
Bertha seemed an aggravation rather than a 
curb, and though his presence served as some 
check upon her malignity, he worried himself 
into a fever of irritation by the certainty that it 
was redoubled when that pressure was removed. 

With regard to Bertha herself, moreover, he 
was not a little puzzled how to act. He was by 
no means entirely convinced as yet that she had 
had no hand in her husband's disappearance, but 
he had no grounds upon which to go ; and even 


How Mischief is Made, 113 

if he had, his course would not have been clear. 
Gladys and her happiness were to be considered 
above all things, and to arrest Bertha on mere 
suspicion would entail a more oh less complete 
separation from the girl he loved. 

The one fact that tended more than all Mr. 
Wenlock’s arguments to banish his misgivings 
was the free expression that she gave to the 
relief which the professor’s absence afforded her. 
So frank was this that within six weeks from 
his departure she insisted, with perfect dis- 
regard of all conventionality, on giving a dinner- 
party. Herbert had at first strongly protested, 
and finding her immovable, had declined to sanc- 
tion such an unseemly proceeding by his 
presence, but, at Gladys’s earnest persuasion, he 
had consented to attend, in order to afford her 
some protection in the unpleasant predicament 
in which she would find herself. 

On arriving somewhat earlier than the hour 
fixed, he found the two Indies in the drawing- 


1 1 4 IVas She Wife or Widow ? 

room, and perceived that the ever-smoldering 
fire had broken out again. 

I am very glad you have come so early, Her 
bert,'' said Bertha, in greeting. Perhaps you 
will be able to make something of this obstinate 
girl. I confess, for my own part, that 1 find her 
every day more and more unmanageable.” 

What is the matter now, Gladys ?” he asked, 
naturally inclining to her side of the question, 
and assuming that the dispute, if it could be so 
called when all the provocation came from one 
side, arose from one of the many trivial details 
which it suited Bertha's purpose to exaggerate 
into deadly and unpardonable sins. 

Gladys glanced at him gratefully, but made 
no answer; and after waiting for a short time 
Bertha resumed : 

Look at that, if you please. It was returned 
from the bank with my pass-book this morning, 
and Gladys, 1 need hardly say, refused to offer 
any explanation of the affair.” 

'' Well,” said Herbert, having examined the 


Hoza Mischief is Made, 1 1 5 

slip of paper she handed to him. I don't see 
that it calls for much explaining. It is a check 
for fifty pounds, payable to Gladys, endorsed by 
her, and signed by her father, one week before 
he disappeared." 

Why should he have given her a check for 
so large an amount without my knowledge ?" 

“ Really, Bertha, I don't know. It certainly 
is no concern of mine, and I can't for the life of 
me, see that it is any of yours." 

There I must differ from you," remarked 
Bertha, sharply. At all events I have a right 
to ask what has become of all that money." 

‘‘Oh, granted. A perfect right to ask, as 
Gladys has an equal right to decline to answer, 
if she does not choose to do so. What have you 
to say, Gladys ?" 

'' I have already said that I have spent it," 
replied Gladys. 

Spent it ! Of course,*' cried Bertha. “ But 
what on, I should like to know?'' 


Ii6 Was She Wife or Widow 9 

‘'That I must, once more, refuse to tell you,” 
said Gladys, firmly. 

“There, you see,” exclaimed Bertha, triumph- 
antly. “ What do you say to it now ?” 

“ Exactly what I said before,” answered Her- 
bert, not without amusement at her chagrin. 
“ That it is no business of mine, or yours.” 

“Then you have no objections to make when 
the girl, who has promised to love, honor and 
obey you, spends so large a sum in a short time 
and then refuses to explain how, when and why 
she did so ?” 

“ Upon my word, Bertha,” said Herbert, 
laughing, “ you are too absurd. In the first 
place, Gladys has not yet promised to love, 
honor and obey me, and in the second, even if she 
had, I should consider that I had small right to 
exact the fulfillment of the pledge, if 1 did not 
repay it with perfect confidence.” 

“ Thank you, Herbert,” said Gladys. 

“ Oh, very well,” sneered Bertha, bitterly. 
“ If you are satisfied, I suppose that is enough.” 


JTow Mischief is Made. 1 1 7 

“ Perfectly,’' said Herbert. 

'' You have no doubts, no suspicions ?” 

'' Of Gladys?” he said, meaningly, annoyed at 
her spitefulness. None whatever.” 

Poor, blind fool, I pity you,” flung out 
Bertha, as a parting shot, and whisked from the 
room in a perfect flutter of indignation at her 
defeat. 

Certainly he would have no doubts or sus- 
picions, Herbert said to himself, when consider- 
ing the question afterward ; he had no doubts or 
suspicions, but all the same he could not help 
wondering what the meaning of this mystery 
might be. There are young women who delight 
in manufacturing purposeless secrets for the 
pleasure of exciting the envy of those who are 
excluded from sharing in them, an envy not a 
whit diminished by the knowledge on both 
sides that the story is not worth hearing, but 
Gladys was not one of these. If she concealed 
a thing it was because there was good reason 
for doing so, and Herbert, in spite of himself, 


1 1 8 TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


could not altogether cease to consider what that 
reason was. After Bertha's retreat he had pur- 
posel}^ refrained from renewing the question of 
the money, but he had in all honesty believed 
that Gladys would, of her own accord, freely 
reveal to him what she had so persistently with- 
held from her stepmother, and when the arrival of 
the first guest put a period to their interview, 
without her having volunteered any statement, 
or having, indeed, recurred to the subject at all, 
he devoted himself to his social duties in a state 
of surprise not untinged by misgiving. 

To his extreme astonishment, the first person 
announced was Pelew, who was received with 
the utmost cordiality by Gladys and with marked 
amiability by Bertha, who returned shortly after 
his entrance. Herbert had long since ceased to 
wonder at any freak of hers, but he was, never- 
theless, somewhat overwhelmed by this sudden 
change of front. 

You seemed to have altered your mind with 
regard to Pelew," he said to her, in an under- 


How Mischief is Made, 119 

tone, when the younger people were engaged 
in conversation at a safe distance. 

‘‘ I suppose there is no reason I shouldn’t do 
so, if I like. I think him a very agreeable young 
man.” 

‘‘ I am very glad to find one subject, at all 
events, on which we can entirely agree.” 

Their brief skirmish was interrupted by the 
appearance of Miss Maldon, and the party was 
shortly completed by the advent of a young man 
with red hair, a prominent nose and no chin, who 
was chiefly remarkable for his wealth and his 
unbounded confidence in his own abilit}^ to 
undertake any task, from the government of 
England to the discovery of the North Pole. 
Having failed to find any worthy opening for 
these vast talents, or any sufficient means of 
reducing his bank account, he had recently 
started a magazine, which promised to effect the 
second of these objects, while the editorial 
duties which he had cheerfully assumed would, 
he firmly believed, provide the first. The World's 


120 


IVas She Wife or Widow? 


Gazette, as he modestly entitled his periodical, 
was his main subject of conversation ; and as he 
seemed to consider that quarreling with his 
contributors and getting as much as possible for 
nothing were the guiding rules for his conduct, 
his anecdotes, though a trifle monotonous, were 
not altogether unamusing to a non-literary audi- 
ence. 

Miss Maldon, let me introduce Mr. Pelew,’* 
said Bertha, smilingly, adding, in a hurried 
whisper behind her. fan : Very clever scientific 
man, Herbert says — chemistry.'’ 

Pelew made a feeble remark about the weather 
and relapsed into silence ; Mr. Sheeter, the 
editor, plunged at Gladys, and Herbert was left in 
disgusted solitude until dinner was announced. 

Mr. Pelew, will you take Miss Maldon ? 
Mr. Sheeter, will you take my daughter ?” mur- 
mured Bertha, sweetly ; and Herbert to his 
extreme annoyance, found himself placed 
between his hostess and the learned young lady, 
and still further separated from Gladys by Mr, 


How Mischief is Made. 


ill 

Sheeter on the one hand and Pelew on the 
other. 

'' Oh, Mr. Torrington,'’ began Miss Maldon, 
after the soup, I made such a curious and 
interesting discovery to-day ! I am sure you will 
be glad to hear about it, and I want you to tell 
me whether it isn’t quite new. If you put salicy- 
lic acid — ” 

But what the salicylic acid was to be applied 
to, and what extraordinary results followed, 
Herbert never heard, for at the same moment 
Mr. Sheeter opened upon the unoffending com- 
pany in a stentorian bray : 

Oh, by Jove ! Mrs. Purfleet, wbat do you 
think happened to me to-day ? Never was so 
surprised in all my life, upon my life !” 

Got an idea of some kind into your head, I 
suppose,” thought Herbert, savagely. 

‘‘ What was that?” asked Bertha, maliciously. 
“ Did you sell a copy of the Gazette f 

“No, I say, Mrs. Purfleet,” resumed Mr. 
Sheeter, flushing angrily. “ No. I’ll tell you 


122 


Was She Wife or Widow 9 


what it was. A feller, an author, actually wrote 
to me to ask me to pay him for an article.'* 

‘‘ And did you T 

Well, no, I should rather think not. The 
idea of an author expecting to be paid !’* 

Had you published the article ?" inquired 
Herbert, with ill-concealed contempt. 

“ Of course I had." 

Then how did 3 ^ou get rid of the responsibil- 
ity r 

“ Responsibility be hanged !" said Mr. Sheeter, 
scornfully.* I beg your pardon, Mrs. Purfleet. 
I told the feller that his article had given me a 
great deal of trouble to alter, and that he ought 
to be satisfied with the honor of appearing in the 
Gazetted 

‘‘ 1 should think he runs a very good chance of 
appearing in another gazette if he is usually paid 
in that fashion," said Herbert, sarcastically. 

And did you alter his article ?" said Bertha. 

'' Of course I altered it. I always do. What's 
the good of being editor if I don't?" 


Hozv Mischief is Made, 


123 


And how do the authors like that ?*’ 

Oh, well, they generally kick, you know ; 
but I tell them that if they don’t like it they can 
let it alone, and that settles them. I tell you 
what it is. Miss Purfleet — ” And he proceeded 
to pour an unending account of his labors into 
Gladys’s unwilling ear, while Miss Maldon 
dragged Pelew into her scientific cobweb, and 
Herbert was left to Bertha, whose beaming sat- 
isfaction showed him that the gulf between 
himself and Gladys had not been opened by 
mere accident. 

‘‘ Any news of the old boy ?” asked Mr. Sheeter 
with his habitual tact, as soon as the ladies had 
left the room. 

“ If you mean Professor Purfleet, none,” re- 
plied Herbert, shortly. 

It’s an uncommon rummy affair that,” went 
on Mr. Sheeter. ‘‘ I’ll tell you what it is — ” 

Take some more wine,” said Herbert. 

‘‘ Thanks,” said he ; for that was an invitation 
he was always ready to accept. 


124 


IVas She Wife or Widow? 


Fve got an article for the next magazine — ” 

Oh, the magazine !” groaned Herbert 

But the editor, rendered more than usually 
loquacious by the wine, which he had not spared, 
launched out boldly on his favorite theme, and 
was still unexhausted when they moved upstairs 
to the drawing-room. 

Herbert's intention of obtaining more than a 
few words with Gladys was frustrated, first by 
Pelew, who had not been beside her long before 
he was carried off by Miss Maldon, who had 
never found so attentive and long-suffering a 
patient ; and next by Mr. Sheeter, who imme- 
diately monopolized the vacant place and 
occupied it without a suspicion that he was not 
a most agreeable and desirable companion, until 
it was time to depart. 

Mr. Sheeter seems quite fascinated by 
Gladys," whispered Bertha to Herbert. 

I’m sure he is a conquest to be proud of," he 
answered. 

He is very rich, you know," 


How Mischief is Made. 125 

Herbert stared at her for a moment, and then 
burst out laughing. 

Do you think I am going to honor the crea- 
ture by being jealous of him he said. 

Jove ! Pelevv, as our friend Sheeter would 
say, I must congratulate you. You seem to have 
completely captivated the fair Miss Maldon,'' 
said Herbert to his friend, as they strolled 
homeward together in the moonlight. I never 
saw a man so attentive.” 

'‘‘Attentive!'” cried Pelew, in a tone of 
alarm which amused Herbert immensely. “ I 
couldn't get rid of her, try as I would.” 

“ Oh, yes, my young friend,” laughed Herbert. 
“ That does very well to say.” 

“ No, but really, Herbert,” said Pelew, 
earnestly. 

Herbert's enjoyment of the joke was marred 
when he continued his journey, after having left 
Pelew at his lodgings, by the recollection of 
Gladys's singular reticence with regard to the 


126 


TVas She Wife or Widoiv ? 


check. He had no doubts, no fears. Oh, no. 
It was no concern of his. And yet — and yet. 

“ I think she might have trusted me.” 



CHAPTER IX. 

HOW THE POISON WORKED. 

Having thus implanted the first little seed of 
distrust, Bertha took care that it should not fail 
to strike root and flourish into full verdure, if 
any tending and watering on her part could 
avail for that purpose. She proceeded with 
great caution, for after her attempt to excite 
Herbert’s jealousy against Mr. Sheeter had failed, 
owing to her ill-judged impetuosity, it was nec- 
essary to avoid rousing his suspicions of her 
interference. She began her new campaign by 
encouraging Mr. Pelew in his visits to the house 
and viewed with gloating satisfaction the increas- 
ing frequency of these. This fact did not alto- 
gether pass unmarked by Herbert, for there was 

[127] 


128 


PVas She Wife or Widow ? 


no attempt at concealment on Pelew’s side, but 
he attributed it to the attractions of Miss Maldon, 
who was a constant visitor at the Purfleets’, and 
often rallied his friend upon this attachment, in 
spite of his stout and almost terrified 
repudiations. 

At length Bertha felt herself in a position 
strong enough to warrant the first step, and she 
succeeded in driving Herbert, in spite of his 
easy-going good-nature and generous trustful- 
ness, to question Gladys more closely on certain 
matters. He did it in the kindest and most 
thoughtful manner, but it was a beginning, the 
end of which neither could foresee, the first 
speck on the fair fruit of perfect confidence ; and 
though all ended satisfactorily for the time, he 
felt as if he had willfully broken the first strand 
in the tie that bound them together, had taken 
the first backward step toward the gate of their 
earthly paradise, which, once passed, might be 
closed forever by the flaming sword of resent- 


How the Poison Worked, 


129 


merit, and he cursed the evil spirit that had led 
him so far blindfold. 

One evening when he was departing, after 
having dined with the two ladies, Bertha accom- 
panied him down-stairs, and as he was prepar- 
ing to light his cigar in the hall, asked him, with 
rather over- wrought indifference : 

Who is Mr. Pelew?” 

Pelew ?” he answered ; my temporary 
assistant at the college.’' 

“ Of course, I know that,” she said, impatiently ; 

I rhean, what was he before ?” 

A student, I suppose, but I haven't the 
faintest idea. 

Where does he come from ?'' she next 
inquired. 

‘‘ From Scotland, I believe.” 

You don’t know ?” 

‘‘ No. I don’t, for certain.” 

‘‘ Have you known him long ?” 

‘‘ Look here, Bertha,” he cried, roused from 
his attitude of indifference by this continued 


J 30 TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


cross-examination, “ what on earth are you driv- 
ing at ?*' 

‘‘ Thank you,'’ said she, coolly, I have got 
what I wanted : The fact that in reality you 
know very little of this Mr. Pelew whom you 
have so suddenly promoted to be your friend." 

- Well ! What then T 

''Do you think it altogether wise to intro* 
duce into this family a young man ot whose 
antecedents you are so entirely ignorant ?" 

"Why not?" he exclaimed. 

" I will say nothing of any personal objections 
which I might have, for I am well aware that 
they would not weigh with you at all — " 

" Personal objections !" he interrupted, " I 
thought you had got over that nonsense. In 
fact, if Pelew is to be believed, it was mainly 
owing to your invitations that he has cultivated 
the acquaintance as much as he has done." 

" I confess it," she said, with assumed regret. 
" I knew that you wished me to be friendly to 


How the Poison Worked, 


^31 

him, and, against my will, I was so. I hope you 
may not have reason to repent it."' 

Why should I 

“ Plainly, do you think it prudent to throw 
him and Gladys so much together 

I don’t throw them together at all,” he said, 
impatiently, lighting another match. 

No,” she remarked with a slight laugh. “ To 
do them justice your help is not much called for 
in that direction now.” 

What do you mean ?” he exclaimed, flinging 
away the match, and facing her fiercely. 

‘‘ Herbert,” she answered, earnestly, I know 
you think me evil-minded and malicious. 1 
know you believe that I am always striving to 
make mischief for the mere gratification of doing 
so. Indeed — indeed, it is not so. That trouble 
sometimes follows, I allow, but all I do, all I 
have done, is for the sake of you and your 
happiness. For that, and that alone.” 

Herbert gazed upon her fixedly, and believed 
that she vyas speaking truly. Had he misjudged 


132 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


her all this time, and was he now about to learn 
some hideous secret? 

** Go on,’' he said, hoarsely. 

“ That young man,” she continued, with 
feverish haste, is here incessantly. Day after 
day, he is with her alone for hours. Their con- 
versation is of the most private character, and 
if by chance I enter they are silent. The other 
day I went into the drawing-room, not knowing 
they were there. Seated on the same sofa he 
was holding her hand clasped in his. *’ It must 
come right in time, and then we shall be happy 
again,’ she said.” 

Stop,” cried Herbert, but she went on 
unheeding : 

He answered: ‘ No. What is done, is done. 
I was mad, unthinking, I confess, but the past, 
I fear, cannot be remedied.’ ” 

Herbert had listened to this rapid outburst 
like a man in a dream, but now he broke out 
angrily : 

Bertha, you are enough to drive a man mad.” 


How the Poison Worked. 


133 


“ Better I than she/' she answered, sadly, 

You would feel it less/’ 

‘‘What shall I do? What shall I do?’’ he 
muttered, pacing the hall in his bewilderment. 

“ Herbert,” she said, impressively, confront- 
ing him, so as to check his walk, “ where have 
those two met before?” 

“‘Met before!’” he cried. “What are you 
saying ?” 

“They have met before,” she said. “ I have 
seen numberless little incidents that convince me 
of that fact. Have you noticed nothing ?” 

“ Great Heavens !’’ he exclaimed, as a blinding 
light broke in upon his memory, illuminating 
with horrible distinctness that scene when he 
had first found Pelew and his Gladys face to 
face. Pelew’s unnatural embarrassment; her 
pallid .face and shaking limbs. Could it be pos- 
sible? Was that introduction a well planned 
comedy on his part ? Had he been the duped 
spectator? Was Bertha right, and had they met 
before ? if so, why had not Gladys told him so 


134 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


afterward ? She had been clearly taken by sur- 
prise, but there must be some great, he feared 
some dreadful reason why she had so carefully 
concealed the fact from him. 

‘‘ Ah !** said Bertha, interpreting rightly the 
expression that flashed across his face. ‘‘You 
have noticed something. Take my advice, and 
ask her that before it is too late.’’ 

He glared at her with dazed, unseeing eyes, 
until she came close up to him and put a hand 
upon his breast. 

“ I will,” he said, and went, while she watched 
him with a smile of sweet contentment. She 
had spoken the truth in all that she had told him, 
but only part of the truth. She had not said 
that what she had seen and overheard had been 
the result not of accident, but of the most insid- 
ious watchfulness. She had not dared Jto tell 
him that she had seen Pelew kiss Gladys more 
than once, and heard her call him “ dear.” He 
Avould not have believed her if she had, and was 
capable, in his fury, of striking her to the ground, 


Hozv the Poison Worked. 


135 


woman as she was, if she had breathed such a 
story in his ear. No. Let but his suspicions 
once be awakened, let his self-respect once give 
way before his maddened jealousy, and she 
would take care that he should not lack oppor- 
tunity of receiving ocular proof of what she did 
not venture yet to speak. 

I will not doubt ; I will not,’’ Herbert reit- 
erated, as he climbed the stairs to the drawing- 
room where he had left Gladys, and before he had 
entered it he had returned almost to his wonted 
state of calm, but there were still sufficient 
traces of his recent agitation on his face to cause 
her to spring from her chair, exclaiming, in 
alarm : 

“ Herbert ! I thought you had gone long ago. 
What is the matter with you?” 

‘‘ Nothing, dear ; nothing,” he answered. 'H 
wish to ask you a question ; that is all.” 

‘ A question !’ ” she repeated, drawing back 
with a scared look. 

He hesitated awkwardly. It was impossible. 


136 IVas She Wife or Widow ^ 


looking on that fair and open face, to harbor 
. doubts of her. He knew not how to put the 
question he intended, and yet he was conscious 
of a shame-faced unwillingness to meet Bertha 
while it was still unpropounded. 

What — ’* he began, blunderingly — when — 
Gladys, have you met Mr. Pelew before 
‘‘ What do you mean ?** she cried. 

Before that day I brought him here,” he 
went on, gathering courage, had you ever met 
him anywhere ?” 

What put such a thought as that into your 
head ?” she asked, wildly. 

That is no answer, Gladys. Had you ?” 

Before that day,” she answered, slowly, as 
if weighing her words, ‘‘ I — I had never — seen — 
Mr. Pelew.” 

That is sufficient ” he said, heartily. ‘‘ Good 
night, my darling.” 

Why do you ask ?” she went on, coldly, 
pushing him back as he stooped to kiss her. 

Well — I thought — I had fancied — in fact — ” 


How the Poison Worked, 


m 


This is some of Bertha's handiwork, is it not ? 
Tell me, is it not?" she said, shrilly. 

‘'Well — to tell you the truth — " he stam- 
mered. 

“ Ah, it is," she cried. “ Take care, Herbert, 
take care. I love you dearly, but I will not 
submit to any questioning or doubt. If you 
value my happiness and peace of mind, if you 
value your own, do not let that woman's tongue 
prompt you to ask what I choose to conceal." 

“ Why, Gladys !'’ he exclaimed, astounded at 
this ebullition of determination from one who 
was so gentle and dependent as a rule. “ I love 
and trust you utterly, but you are young, and 
may err innocently through over-confidence. I 
think it would be better — in short — if you saw 
less of Mr. Pelew for the future." 

“ What ?" she flashed out, coming close to him. 
“ Why should 1 not see him when and where I 
like? What right have you to say anything 
against it ?" 

“You misunderstand me, Gladys," he said, 


138 IVas She Wife or Widow? 


gently. ‘‘ I have no fear for you, but evil 
tongues are easily set wagging, and wag long. 
I only ask you, for your own sake, to be careful 
of giving them any impetus.” 

‘‘ Am I to take these suspicions as the first- 
fruits of my — imprudence, then ?” 

Gladys !” he cried, pained at her callous 
bitterness. 

No, no, Herbert!” she said, clasping her 
hands round his neck. I did not mean that, 
but you must trust me, dear, or there will by an 
end to all love between us. Whatever you may 
hear, whatever you may see, confide in me. 
Will you promise, dearest, will you promise 
that ?” 

‘‘ But, Gladys — ” he said, doubtingly, finding 
it hard to resist the soft, pleading eyes turned 
up to his — I am not over-curious. Heaven 
knows, but still, it is my right to share your 
troubles, and to aid you in your difficulties.” 

'' Ah 1 ” she said icily, drawing away from his 
embrace. ‘‘ You will not promise.” 


How the Poison Worked, 


139 


You ask much, Gladys,'’ he said, mournfully. 
‘‘ Tell me one thing. I ask for no particulars: 
Is there any — any bond between you and 
Pelew ?” 

How dare you ask me such a question ?” 
she said, fiercely. 

“ Dare, Gladys !” 

You say you love, trust, confide in me,” she 
went on rapidly, and you can ask me that. I 
might have said, I cannot tell you — I answer now, 
I will not tell you." 

‘‘ Gladys!” he cried in anguish, ‘‘ think what 
you are saying! Think what you are doing! 
The happiness of both our lives lies brittle as 
glass in your two hands at this moment; do not 
fling it lightly from you, for, once broken, it can 
never again be made whole as before.” 

It is you who are risking it, not I,” she 
answered. ‘‘ I tell you that I love you, and that 
I am proud and happy in knowing that I have 
your love in return. I ask you as a proof of that 


140 Was She Wife or Widow f 

love to trust me, without question or complaint. 
What is your answer ?’* 

Herbert, as he always did when suffering from 
doubt or agitation, began to pace the room. 
The first step, as it happened, took him toward 
the door, and Gladys thought that he was about 
to leave her without another word. 

Herbert !” she cried, in a tone of such 
agonized entreaty, that all his doubts and fears 
were brushed away. He turned swiftly to her, 
holding out his arms, and as she rushed sobbing 
into his embrace, he exclaimed, fervently: 

My darling, I will promise to trust you now, 
and always.’' 

‘‘Well,” said Bertha, who was waiting for him 
in the hall as he descended, “ what does she 
say?” 

“ She has said nothing that will afford you any 
gratification,” he answered, briefly. 

“ She has answered to your satisfaction, 
then ?” she said, unconsciously betraying the 
hope she had entertained to the contrary. 


How the Poison Worked. 


141 

“ She has not answered at all/' said Herbert, 
too bluntly honest to conceal how he had fallen 
away from his former resolution to know all. 

And what did you say to that ?" 

I told her that I would trust her now and 
always," he answered, defiantly, and fled from 
the house to escape her smile of malignant con- 
tempt for his weakness. 



CHAPTER X. 

HOW TROUBLE AROSE. 

Poor Herbert’s position during the following 
weeks was not pne to be envied. Bound by a 
solemn promise to accept whatever came to his 
sight or hearing with unthinking trustfulness, 
honestly intending to keep that pledge intact, 
he was, nevertheless, haunted day and night by 
the endless suspicions and scandals which 
Bertha poured like poison into his unwilling 
ears. His only method of escape from this con- 
stant aggravation was to avoid the house 
altogether ; but that course entailed a severance 
of all connection with Gladys, and left her an 
unprotected prey to the insinuations that Bertha 
would not fail to inflict upon her — fears that 
[142] 


How Trouble A rose. 


H3 


Herbert’s love for her was growing cold, doubts 
that though he was silenced he was not con- 
vinced ; and rather than risk her uneasiness he 
continued to submit himself to the stings of 
Bertha’s tongue, though each one burned like 
pepper in a green wound. 

Determined, as he was, to keep the letter of 
his promise, he could not altogether avoid 
breaking it in spirit by keeping a keen eye on 
Pelew. Not upon his comings and goings, for 
that was a proceeding he would have con- 
demned unreservedly, but upon his manner 
during their unavoidable daily intercourse, 
gaining, be it said at once nothing thereby. The 
young fellow was as frankly genial as he had ever 
been. There was no shade of the reserve which 
might have been expected in a man who was 
basely deceiving or seeking to injure a close 
friend. He spoke without hesitation of the 
Purfleets, and made no attempt to conceal the 
fact that he was a frequent visitor at their house, 
or that he found the minutes passed there very 


144 


JVas She Wife or Widow? 


pleasant. He did not even avail himself of the 
excuse that Miss Maldon’s numerous calls there 
would have afforded him. He always spoke of 
her with comic horror, and when Herbert joked 
him about her evident intention to marry him 
by force, whether he would or not, implored 
him, half in earnest, half in jest, to rescue him 
from this scientific harpy, and protect him from 
her persecutions. 

It’s no use kicking, Pelew,” said Herbert, 
laughing, one afternoon, when the young lady 
had succeeded in monopolizing Pelew for more 
than an hour. “ She means to marry you in the 
end ; so you had better make the best of it and 
give in gracefully.” 

But she can’t,” exclaimed Pelew, eagerly. 

Why not?” said Herbert, surprised at the 
assurance of his tone. ‘‘ Are you married 
already ?” 

‘‘ No — no,” replied Pelew, awkwardly. ‘‘ I 
mean — she can’t unless I like.” 

Is that the cause of all his troubles ?” thought 


How Hotible Arose. 


H5 


Herbert, afterward. Was his young friend, like 
many another man, suffering from the heedless 
impetuosity of amorous )^outh ? Had he some- 
where a wife, unfit to be presented as such, who 
remained a clinging burden, hampering his life 
long after the bandage had been torn from 
Cupid’s eyes, a source of shame and misery 
instead of honor and comfort! 

That would account for many things, even, 
perhaps, his confidential interviews with Gladys, 
yet strangely enough just at the time of this 
partial revelation the distress under which he 
had been suffering seemed to have passed away 
to a great extent, and though he worked as 
diligently and assiduously as ever, he did not 
appear, as formerly to be driven onward by the 
sharp goad of necessity. Only when Herbert 
asked him as to the success of his experiments 
did that shadow of melancholy reappear, as he 
owned with many a sigh that he began to fear 
that the result he hoped for would never be 
attained. He almost anxiously declined Herbert’s 


146 JVas She Wife or Widow? 


offer to help him as far as possible, and left him 
to wonder what the investigation could be which 
was so secret, and the failure of which produced 
such unnatural depression. 

One afternoon, the day before a party which 
Bertha had determined to give in the face of his 
vehement opposition, Herbert, who had come to 
the conclusion that all was well, and that her 
inuendoes with regard to Gladys and Pelew 
were without foundation, received one of her 
not infrequent notes urging him to come and see 
her at once. 

Accustomed by that time to these exaggerated 
invocations, he did not, as he would once have 
done, rush off instantly to see what was the 
matter, but finished his work undisturbed, and 
dined leisurely before strolling round to inquire 
what was wanted of him. 

'' Herbert,’' said Bertha, when they were alone, 

I am frightened almost out of my life.” 

''What has happened?” he asked, repressing 
an inclination to laugh, as he saw from her 


How Trouble Arose. 


147 


expression that she was actually, though in all 
probability unreasonably, alarmed. 

‘‘ For the last two nights I have been awakened 
by a step upon the stairs.'' 

Well. One of the servants, I suppose, sitting 
up or staying out late." 

“ It was a heavy step, though made as light as 
possible. A man's step," she objected. 

A man's !" he said ; and they sat for some 
time silently staring into one another's eyes. A 
man's r Bertha, is that true ? Are you sure of 
what you are saying?" 

'‘True! Sure!" she repeated petulantly. 
" Do you think that I am a child, to play sense- 
less tricks upon your credulity?" 

" What did you do?" he asked, convinced that 
she, at all events, believed that she had heard the 
noise she spoke of. 

" I did not dare to move. Oh, you must help 
me, Herbert." 

" Did any one else in the house hear this foot- 
step ?" he inquired, thinking that her fears were 


148 IVas She Wife or Widoiv? 


probably the outcome of some unusually vivid 
dream. 

‘‘ I have not asked any one/' she answered. 

Perhaps you were right," he said, after some 
reflection, and though he thrust all suspicion 
from him, he was painfully conscious of an 
unwillingness to mention Gladys ; not that he 
doubted, he said to himself, but that it would 
afford a mark for Bertha’s malice. 

‘‘ What do you want me to do in the matter?" 
he asked. 

To watch to-night," she replied, at once, as 
if her plans were already formed. To find out 
who that man is, and what he is doing in this 
house at night. We retire early now. If you 
go away at your usual hour and return at eleven, 
1 can let you in, without any one knowing. The 
glass door in the conservatory will enable us to 
observe any one who enters or leaves the hall." 

‘‘ Us !" said Herbert. 

“Certainly; I shall watch with you. You do 
not suppose I would leave you to run the dan- 


How Trouble Arose. 


T49 


ger alone ? Besides, you might be tempted to 
do something rash in case — 

In case — ’’ repeated Herbert, as she stopped 
short. 

‘‘ In case he is a burglar and is armed,’' she 
concluded with some hesitation. 

Herbert did not like the task ; but he did not 
see how he could refuse to assist her. The 
women were alone in the house, and he was 
bound to offer his protection ; so he consented 
to the proposal, not without unspoken disap- 
proval. 

What mare’s nest is this, I wonder ?” he 
thought, contemptuously, as he loitered in the 
silent square, waiting for the neighboring church 
clock to strike eleven. He had had plenty of 
time for meditation while he paced the wind- 
swept streets between his departure from the 
Purfleets’ and the hour appointed — meditation 
by no means of the most soothing character. 

He despised himself for having yielded to 
Bertha’s suggestion and concealed from Gladys 


1 50 IVas She Wife or Widow ? 

the proposed vigil. He scorned indignantly the 
implication of that sleepless and unpleasant 
other self that this concealment was really doubt 
of her. He denied it again and again, argued 
against it strenuously, laughed at it ; yet still 
unmoved and unabashed, that tiny voice, which, 
small as it was, made every nerve in his body 
tingle, maintained its point. 

If you had not doubted, you would have 
spoken,'' it said and refused to be silenced. 

‘‘Bah!" he said, below his breath, as the bell 
began to boom out the hour. “ It is some vul- 
gar intrigue of one of the servants." And deter- 
mined to reward the intruder with a hearty 
thrashing, he tapped gently at the door. 

At once it silently turned upon its hinges, and 
Bertha appeared. With finger upon lip, she 
closed it noiselessly behind him, and led him 
across the hall and into the conservatory beyond. 
Once there, with the glass door safely closed, 
they threw off some of their caution and spoke, 


Hozv Trouble Arose. 


151 

but still in whispers, and on Herbert’s part at 
least, with a strange, guilty feeling. 

'' I have brought some whiskey and a siphon 
for you,” she said. You must be tired and 
thirsty.” 

He was, and drained greedily the glass she 
filled and handed to him. 

‘‘My word !” he whispered, “you’ve made it 
strong enough, at all events.” 

“ It won’t hurt you,” she answered. “ Sit 
down. We may have some time to wait.” 

There was only a wickerwork settee in the 
place, but there was room for both ; and footsore 
as he was with his long promenade, he did not 
hesitate to take the place beside her. The hot, 
moist atmosphere, the heavy odor of the flowers 
and some peculiar penetrating scent she had 
about her rose to his brain, while the conscious- 
ness of her warm personality affected him 
singularly. For some time they sat in silence, 
an intense, meaning silence, until, unable to bear 
it longer, he turned and looked at her. He met 


152 IVas She Wife or Widow? 


her eyes fixed burningly on his, and as he shrank 
a little back, as from some half-recognized 
danger, he was aware that, in the long, lace- 
burdened wrapper that she wore, illuminated 
faintly by the lamp in the hall without, she was 
wonderfully beautiful. He thought in a vague 
way that it was curious that he should never 
have noticed it before. 

‘‘Promise me,'* she said, in a low, trembling 
voice, “ that whatever may come of this, you 
will not lay the blame on me. 

“ Promise," she urged again, with wild excita- 
tion, holding out her hand to him. 

Passively, not thinking, yet knowing what he 
did, he laid his hand in hers. Her fingers closed 
strongly on his, and she drew his hand and arm 
around her. Her face turned slowly up and up to 
his, as a flower turns to the sun. For a moment 
his mind reeled as his resolution wavered in the 
balance. All thought, all sense of right and 
wrong, all recollection of the past, all contempla- 
tion of the future, were breaking down before 


How Trouble Arose. 


153 

the pressure of her resistless passion. Already 
his head was stooping down to hers ; already he 
felt her quick breath on his cheek, when a 
sudden sound from the hall without caused them 
to start apart, and hasten, trembling and in 
silence, to a spot whence, screened by heavy 
foliage, they could see what passed beyond the 
glass door. 

The rattle of a latch-key in the lock was the 
sound that had brought Herbert to his senses. 
Softly the door swung inward; a man, wrapped 
in a cloak that hid his face and form, entered, 
closed the door behind him, and after a brief 
glance around, began to ascend the stairs. His 
face was still invisible, but it was certain from 
his gait and action that he was young. So 
absorbed had Herbert been in this ominous 
appearance that he had not noticed that Bertha’s 
arm was still round him, her hand upon his 
shoulder, until its presence checked him as he 
was about to dash forward. 


154 


IVas She Wife or Widow 9 


''Not yet. Wait a little while/' she whis- 
pered. 

" Why not ?" he said, hoarsely, shaking off the 
hand that held him. 

" If it should be ?" she said. 

" It is not ! It cannot be ! I will not believe 
it!" he answered, without observing that by his 
ready comprehension of her meaning he had 
already yielded half a point. 

"If it should be?" she repeated, without 
marking his interruption. " You will not hate 
me, Herbert, for having disclosed the truth to 
your eyes. I can bear anything but your hate. 
Promise that you will put her from you, and 
forget her as if she had never been." 

" Without her," said Herbert, " life for me is 
empty. Her love once gone, I have nothing left 
to wish for or to win," 

" Oh, blind, blind fool !" said Bertha, in a 
voice whose wild emotion contrasted marvel- 
ously with the low whisper in which she 
breathed the words rather than spoke. " Do 


How Trouble Arose. 


155 


you think that she is the only woman in the 
world. Do you not know that for years past a 
wealth of love she cannot even dream of has 
been madly, foolishly lavished upon you — you 
who carelessly thrust it from you, and flung it, 
as if worthless, to another?” 

“ What do you mean ?” he exclaimed, startled 
at her vehemence. 

” I mean,” she answered, clasping him in her 
arms, and clinging to him with a frenzied grasp 
that he could not shake off — “ 1 mean that I love 
you, have loved you since we were children ; that 
you have been my one thought day and night ; 
that the hope of earning your love has been my 
one guiding star. For you I preferred to suffer 
the miseries of single poverty to the miseries of 
married wealth. When you came to me four 
years ago I thought my happiness was to be 
crowned at last. When you spoke cold words 
of wisdom advising marriage with another I 
could have cried aloud in my despair. I almost 
told you then what I can now congeal no longer. 


156 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


but I feared your contempt, and held my tongue. 
Perhaps it was as well, you would have paid no 
heed. Because of you I have been cruel to that 
girl who held your heart like a plaything . 
because of you 1 have repaid with scorn and 
contumely the kindness of my husband. Can 
you wonder that I rejoiced when he went away 
and left me free. I love you, 1 love you, I love 
you, Herbert; let us go far from this miserable 
house and be happy, at last, at last.'* 

Swept onward by the torrent of her words, he 
had listened, unresistingly. Unresisting he let 
her draw his face to hers and press her burning 
lips to his, but that touch restored him to him- 
self. 

Bertha," he said, you are mad ! Remem- 
ber that he is still your husband." 

‘‘ My husband !" she said, bitterly. ‘‘ I have 
no husband ! He has released me from the 
odious bondage, relieved me of his hateful 
presence. I am yours, Herbert — yours alone !" 

This is folly, Bertha," he said, gently, for 


How Trouble Arose. 


157 


he was softened by this devotion to himself. 
“ Even if you were free, as you say, you forget 
that 1 am bound to Gladys.” 

“ To Gladys,” she hissed, “ to Gladys. A 
happy bondage, truly. Look !” 

Footsteps were descending the stairs. The 
strange, midnight visitor was returning, but not 
alone — ah, not alone. Was it possible ? Could 
he believe his senses ? It would be better for 
him could he doubt his eyes, rather than the 
truth of all mankind. By the stranger’s side, 
encircled by his arm, looking up into his face, 
smiling and whispering, came Gladys, the girl to 
whom he had given his whole heart. A low 
groan broke from Herbert’s ashen lips, and 
Bertha’s quick breath seemed to roar in his ears, 
as she leaned forward, watching with tigerish 
interest. 

The two unsuspecting objects of this observa- 
tion stopped beneath the hall lamp and held 
brief converse. The man’s cloak was thrown 
open now, but the low flame overhead cast the 


158 IVas She Wife or Widow? 


shadow of his hat brim on his face so that it was 
quite invisible. Suddenly Gladys turned away 
smiling and began to trip up-stairs again, stop- 
ping at the first step to look back, and, with a 
charming gesture, press her finger to her lip. 
Herbert was too overwhelmed by this proof 
of treachery to form the thought of leaping on 
the destroyer of his happiness and tearing from 
his head the shadowy hat which still baffled 
recognition. Motionless alike, actor and spec- 
tators remained until the rustle of her dress 
announced that Gladys was once more on her 
downward path. That she had been for an 
envelope which she had forgotten and now 
carried in her hand, was obvious. Smiling still 
she gave it to the man. A moment longer they 
remained in inaudible converse, and then 
Herbert, doubting his eyes, his senses, his very 
existence, saw the man fold her once more in his 
arms. Ere he could realize the fact he kissed 
her — kissed her^ and w^s gone. 



CHAPTER XL 

HOW THE CLOUDS THICKENED. 

How far and in what direction he wandered 
on that dreadful night, Herbert will never know. 
He recollected flying like a madman from the 
Purfleets’ house — that house which had so long 
been to him a haven of happiness and peace ; 
the mere thought of which was to be to him for 
the future as a goad driving him on to despera- 
tion. He remembered vaguely pacing miles on 
miles of never-ending, deserted, lamplit streets, 
as in a fevered nightmare ; weary and footsore, 
still he kept on, with that one gadfly thought 
ever hovering over him, ready to sting him into 
fresh agonies of pain-racked exertion if he 
sought to rest, even for a moment, his faltering 

[159] 


1 6 o PVas She Wife or Widow 9 


feet. By what unconscious act of memory he 
found his way at last, under the chill dawn, back 
to the street and house in which he lived, and 
without thought unlocked the door, climbed the 
creaking stairs and flung himself, worn out in 
mind and body, upon the bed, he can never tell. 

For some time he slept the dead, dreamless 
sleep of utter prostration, but when he awoke 
that same thought was again waiting like a 
handmaid at his pillow to rouse him to a full 
consciousness of the bitterness of life. 

Gladys, Gladys the fair, the sweet, the gentle, 
Gladys on whom he had poured out all the rich- 
ness of his love, Gladys on whom he had founded 
all his faith and trust, now and hereafter, Gladys 
so pure and innocent in face was false — nay, 
worse ! 

With aching head and burning eyes he lay, 
tossing to and fro, brain and body tired, yet with 
a dull feeling that he should never sleep again, 
while the sparrows, chirping harshly in the 







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How the Clouds Thickened. i6i 

blackened trees without, announced that another 
day had begun. 

Not a detail of that terrible scene could he 
forget. One by one the incidents unrolled 
themselves with hideous precision, like some 
fire-painted panorama, and, having worked out 
to the damning end, began again. 

When the door was shut upon the departing 
stranger, he staggered rather than stepped into 
the hall. Gladys, startled by the crashing of his 
feet upon the polished tile-work, turned swiftl}^ 
and seeing him stand, pale and threatening, gave 
a faint, heart-broken cry and fell back white and 
shivering against the door, as if determined, even 
at that fatal crisis, to cover the retreat of her 
lover; but Herbert had no notion of pursuit. 
Raising his hand, and pointing with a finger 
quivering like an aspen leaf, he assayed to speak. 
His voice was gone. Once and again he tried, 
and uttered soundless words. He dashed his 
hand fiercely across his eyes, and, with a 


i 62 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


strangled cry, broke down the barriers of 
speech. 

Gladys,'' he said, in a strange, unrecogniza- 
ble voice, “ who is that man ?" 

She drew herself together and faced him with 
dreary defiance, but made no answer. 

Gladys, who is that man?" 

Unbroken silence followed, through which 
presently rang out clearly the bells of the church 
near by, chiming half-past eleven. How much 
had happened, how greatly the current of his 
life had been disturbed in that one brief half- 
hour ! 

Gladys, who is that man ?" he asked again 
in the same dead, passionless tone. 

I — I cannot tell you," at last she answered, 
in a low voice, but with no irresolution. 

Is that an answer?" he said, fiercely. ‘‘ Who 
is that man ?" 

I will not tell you !" 

“ Gladys !" 


How the Clouds Thickened. 


163 


She shuddered and moved toward him at this 
despairing cr}^, but stopped as he drew back. 

“ I cannot tell you/' she said again. 

What was he doing here ?" 

1 cannot tell you." 

“ Gladys !" 

Again she moved forward, and again he drew 
back. It was as if she were the accuser, he the 
accused. 

Reflect, Gladys, and answer me !" he cried. 

Herbert," she began, speaking with swift 
indistinctness, constantly moistening with her 
tongue lips that w’ere always dry. “ Herbert, 
not many days ago you agreed to trust me in 
everything. Have you forgotten that ? What- 
ever you might hear, whatever you might see, you 
would ask no questions, but repose in me implicit 
confidence. Those were the words you used. I 
call upon you now to keep your promise. 

To keep your promise !" she repeated, wildly, 
as he neither spoke nor moved. 

Gladys," he said, and his tongue seemed of 


1 64 IVas She Wife or Widow? 


lead, that was my promise, but there are 
occasions when a man may not willfully remain 
blind without sacrificing his last title to the 
name of man, that of his self-respect I will not 
break my promise to you, but I ask you to 
release me from it, and tell me all.’' 

You call that trustfulness,” she said, scorn- 
fully. You gave me a solemn pledge, and now 
on the first occasion when your truth is tried, 
when you should rejoice to show your willing- 
ness to keep your plighted word, you refuse to 
do so, and, while pretending not to break it, you 
ask me to give it back to you shattered by the 
first strain. I cannot do so.” 

Listen, Gladys, listen before you utter 
hastily words that cannot be unsaid. I swear to 
you that I will ask no questions, that I will 
believe unhesitatingly all that you may say. 
Only say something — something to clear away 
this cloud of black suspicion, to restore to me 
my faith in you.” 


How the Clouds Thickened. 165 

‘‘What can I say that you would believe 
she said, shaken by his anguish. 

“Anything. I will believe anything that 
proves you to be what I have always thought 
you — ” 

“ No, no !” she cried, with a grief no less 
poignant than his. “ I cannot. I must not.’' 

“ Is it — is it for his sake?” he said, pointing 
with a wild gesture to the door. 

“ It is,” she answered. “ Oh, Herbert, if you 
knew all, you would pity, not condemn me.” 

“ Gladys !” he groaned, and turning away 
buried his face in his hands. 

“Herbert!” she cried again, coming to him 
and seizing his arm. “ Do not cast me off so 
lightly. Do not suspect me so easily. Trust 
me, only trust me. I can tell you nothing. I 
can explain nothing, but still I beg of you to 
trust me.” 

“ You ask too much,” he murmured, sadly. 
“ I cannot.” 

She stood fixed as a statue for a moment, and 


1 66 TVas She Wife or Widow? 

then letting her hands fall to her sides with a 
piteous sob, moved toward the stairs. 

‘'Tell me his name!’' he cried, “ tell me his 
name that I may ask him what you cannot tell.” 

“ No. I cannot.” 

“Gladys! what am I to think? Not — the. 
Avorst ?” 

‘‘The worst?” she said, pausing a few steps 
up. “ If you will. If you can. Even that.” 

“ The worst,” said Bertha, breaking silence 
for the first time. 

Something in the tone of this remark stung 
Gladys into anger, and turning upon her she 
gave free utterance to her pent-up indignation. 

“ And you — you are the one to taunt and 
revile me. You who returned with scorn my 
father’s love, who have treated me with end- 
less cruelty, as mean and cowardly as it was 
undeserved. You dare to call me guilty. 
Are you so innocent? What are you doing 
here ? If you could so far pervert that man’s 
honest mind as to drag him down to the 


How the Clouds Thickened. 


167 


infamy of eavesdropping, could you not let 
him play the spy alone ? Is it for the sake of 
his honor, his happiness alone that you have 
acted as you have? What are you doing here?’' 

Bertha shrank back, silenced by this storm 
of words, and only answered with an uneasy 
laugh of would-be contemptuous defiance. 

Herbert," continued Gladys, turning to him 
as he stood speechless, painfully conscious of 
that mad passage in his life just passed. I have 
asked, begged you to trust me, and you have 
declined. Take one word of warning, even 
from me : Distrust that woman !" 

Gladys !" he tried to cry ; but the word 
stuck in his throat, and she went up and away 
without another word. 

Herbert," began Bertha ; but thrusting, 
almost striking her aside, he rushed from the 
house into the darkness. 

That was the scene that forced itself again and 
again upon his unwilling memory as he lay 
upon his bed next morning. Closely, unshrink- 


1 68 iVas She Wife or Widow ? 


ingly, he forced himself to scrutinize its every 
detail, in no uncharitable spirit, seeking rather 
some loophole, some cranny of escape for her 
from the one unbearable conclusion. But there 
was none to find. Why had she refused to offer 
any explanation, save that there was none to 
offer? That kiss, that kiss that rose before his 
eyes as on a painted canvas, was unanswerable. 

Slowly he dragged himself up to his feet. 
Slowl}" he made his way into the sitting-room in 
front, starting as he met his reflection in the 
glass above the mantel-piece. Slowly he moved 
toward a cupboard in the corner of the room. 
It was locked, for in it he kept various materials 
for his work, many of which it was fatal to taste, 
some even to smell ; but mechanically he found 
the key and opened it, mechanically he took a 
little bottle from a shelf and returned to the 
fireplace in which the ashes of his last night’s 
fire lay black and sordid. Ah ! with what high- 
beating hopes and ambitions, with what golden 
thoughts and anticipations he had sat before that 


How the Clouds Thickened. 


t69 

fire now burned out, even as his love, his trust 
were burned out in the dead volcano of his 
heart. 

“ And that is I !” he murmured, as he gazed 
upon the death-white face, with ragged, unkempt 
hair, and red, bleared eyes, which stood before 
him in the glass, “ Herbert Torrington, the 
successful, the happy, the envied !” He rubbed 
his hand across the mirror as if he would blot 
out the face before him. “ Well, fortunately, it 
is as easy to remove him as to remove that 
fleeting reflection, from these eyes, at any rate.” 

He was already fingering with hesitating 
resolution the stopper of that deadly little vial, 
when his eyes fell upon a portrait on the shelf in 
front of him. It was a photograph of Gladys, 
looking up, as it seemed, at him with such clear, 
trustful honesty in the gaze that he started as if 
he had seen a vision. 

“ No !” he cried, with hoarse passion. “ No ! 
Not yet, not yet. Not until I have hunted down 
and taken bitter vengeance on the scoundrel who 


170 


JVas She Wife or Widozv ? 


could rob her of that innocence, could wrest 
from me that love. 

Who could he be?*' he wondered, when he 
had once more placed the poison under lock and 
key. Who was that young man? Was it Pelew ? 
No, he could not think it, he could not believe it 
of him. Yet he would wait; yet he would 
watch. How closely he would watch. 

Any lingering doubt was quickly swept away 
by the perfect, open friendliness of Pelew's 
reception. It was inconceivable that that could 
be the manner of a man towards a friend whom 
he was deceiving under circumstances of the 
blackest treachery. He was so tenderly anxious 
about Herbert's ill looks, so sympathetically 
pitiful of the bad night to which he attributed 
them, so innocently frank in response to any 
mention of Gladys that Herbert could not for a 
moment longer nurse a suspicion of his guilt. 

When he had sent away his untasted dinner it 
occurred to him that this was the evening of the 
party at the Purfleets’ house. He laughed. 


How the Clouds Thickened, 


171 

albeit without real merriment, at the thought of 
festivity in that place at that time ; but he knew 
well that Bertha was not the person to have put 
it off because of the unhappiness of others. 
Moreover, he would have received some intima- 
tion had she done so. Bah ! What did it matter 
to him ? He would not go, in any case. And 
yet, why not? Why afford Bertha the pleasure 
of thinking that her declaration had affected 
him ? 

He would go ! He would go ! He emptied 
the bottle of Burgundy that had been opened for 
his dinner, and proceeded to dress. It was a long 
and weary business, and more than once he 
nearly relinquished the attempt. The fearful 
excitement of the previous night had told upon 
his nerves, and his hand shook, so that he could 
hardly control his movements ; the lack of sleep 
and nourishment had weakened him, and his 
eyes were dim and heavy ; the wine he had 
drunk, without solid food, had flown to his head. 


172 IVas She Wife or Widow? 

and his brain swam dizzily, but still he doggedly 
persevered. 

I will go ! I will go ! I will go he 
repeated over and over again, as if that sentence 
alone gave him sufficient grip upon the reality 
of the present to enable him to end his dressing. 
At last, after he had irritably flung away a dozen 
white ties that he had failed in tying, it was 
done, and he was in the hansom on his way to 
the house. 

The fresh air soothed and sobered him, and he 
fell into an uneasy doze, from which the stopping 
of the cab awakened him. At first he could not 
make out where he was or why he was there, 
but thoughts like his cannot be banished long 
and he remembered all — all. 

Perhaps I shall see him,’' he thought. 

He passed numerous acquaintances on his way 
upstairs, but he did not see them or pay heed to 
their greetings. Mr. Sheeter seized hold of him 
on the first landing, but received such a scowl 


How the Clouds Thickened, 


173 


from his dark-ringed eyes that he shrank back, 
muttering: 

By Jove ! you know, I nfever knew Torring- 
ton was given to that sort , of thing and went 
off to recover the shock at the buffet in the dining- 
room below. 

He shook hands with Bertha, who was receiv- 
ing her guests outside the drawing-room door, 
with cererhonious politeness, and wondered to 
see her so calm and smiling. He had not yet 
learned what a maelstrom of griefs and passions 
a woman’s smiling face can cover — a very Niagara 
whirlpool, which, with its irresistible force 
and fury, looks smooth and placid, while oily 
wreaths of bubbling water roll slowly up and 
on. 

He met the good old Doctor Jedburgh, just 
inside, who looked in a scared way at his face, 
and advised him to go home and get to bed 
forthwith, but he moved on, unregarding, into 
the hot and crowded room, wondering vaguely 
why he was there. 


174 


TVas She Wife or Widozv? 


Men stared at him, and women whispered 
together, but he passed on, and presently saw 
Gladys at some little distance ; then he remem- 
bered why he had come. She, at least, pos- 
sessed the saving grace of not dissembling. 
She gazed at him with eager, piteous eyes — so 
piteous that, after stonily returning her glance 
with unflinching sternness for a moment, he 
could endure it no longer, and turned away 
without approaching. 

“Who was it? Who was it? Who was it?’' 
hummed over and over in his brain, like the 
burden of a haunting song. 

As he put this question to himself for the 
hundredth time, a man leaned forward through 
the throng and caught him by the elbow. It 
was the cashier at the bank. 

“ Torrington," he whispered, eagerly, drawing 
him aside, “ come with me. He is here.” 

“ Who ? Who is here ? What do you mean ?’’ 
he asked, in a harsh voice, startled at this singu- 
larly apposite answer to his unuttered inquiry. 


How the Clouds Thickened. 


175 


“ The man who presented the check at the bank 
that morning.” 

“ What !” cried Herbert. 

“Hush!” said his friend, and led him to the 
recess of a window, where, submitting with but 
an ill grace to Miss Maldon’s fluent conversa- 
tion, sat — Pelew. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HOW HERBERT WAS ASTONISHED. 

The next day was Sunday, very fortunately for 
Herbert, for so thoroughly exhausted was he by 
the experiences and emotions of the night and 
day just past, that, had it been necessary, he 
could not have summoned up sufficient energy 
to rise and attend to his duties at the college. 
He had determined to call upon Mr. Wenlock 
that morning, and acquaint him with the dis- 
covery he had made the night before, but find- 
ing that his limbs, weakened by a low feverish 
attack, refused to support him, he was compelled 
to relinquish his intention, and to send a message 
to the detective, begging him to come to him 
instead. 


[176] 



How Herbert was Astonished, 177 


Sorry to see you laid up, Mr. Torrington,” 
said that gentleman, on his arrival in ready 
response to this invitation. 

‘‘Oh, it’s nothing much, thanks,'' said Herbert. 
“ A little rest is all I need to put me on my feet 
again. Won’t you sit down?" 

“Thank you; I will," said Mr. Wenlock, 
accepting the proffered seat, after having depos- 
ited his carefully brushed silk hat on a table by 
the bed. “And now, sir, what is this piece of 
information of the first importance that you want 
to speak to me about ?" 

“ I have found out the young man who pre- 
sented the check at the bank that morning. He 
was positively identified to me last night." 

“ Indeed," said Mr. Wenlock, without any 
appearance of that excited interest which Her- 
bert expected to elicit ; rather, indeed, with 
a shade of annoyance. “ Where ?" 

“ At the Purfleets' house." 

“He went there?" said Mr. Wenlock, as if 


178 IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


considering a curious phenomenon of no immedi- 
ate concern to himself. 

He did/’ said Herbert. “ He was pointed 
out to me at a party there, by the cashier.” 

‘VRather an imprudent proceeding on his 
part”, said Mr. Wenlock, reflectively. 

What is more, he has been there frequently 
of late. Curiously enough, I was his introducer, 
for the young man for whom we have been look- 
ing so long in vain is no other than — ” 

‘‘ Mr. Pelew,” interposed the detective, 
quietly. 

‘‘ What !” cried Herbert, whose attempt at a 
surprise recoiled upon himself. You knew it?” 

Bless your heart, Mr. Torrington,” said Mr. 
Wenlock, coolly, “ I’ve known it for this ever so 
long !” 

‘'Then why on earth didn’t you tell me?” 
exclaimed Herbert with some annoyance. 

‘^Well, you see, sir,” said Mr. Wenlock, 
thoughtfully, stroking his beard and mustache, 


How Herbert was Astonished. 179 


as was his habit, I didn’t feel altogether sure 
that 1 could — well — trust you.” 

Not trust me !” cried Herbert. ‘‘ I don’t 
understand you, Mr. Wenlock.” 

Oh, no offense, sir,” said Mr. W enlock, hastily. 

1 mean no offense. I don’t insinuate that you 
were not to be trusted, in the ordinary sense of 
the word ; but, you see, you haven’t had my 
experience in concealing your feelings, and 1 
thought that if you knew you would let out to 
our young friend, by some irrepressible expres- 
sion of your face, that his little secret was 
known. Under these circumstances, I thought 
it better to keep the fact to myself, and I am 
heartily sorry that you have found it out now.” 

‘‘But when did you discover it?” exclaimed 
Herbert, in amazement at this penetration. 

“ I suspected it the night I met him at your 
rooms. I knew it for a fact next morning.” 

“ How did you get such an idea into your head, 
and how did you manage to prove its truth?” 

“Well, you see — Do you mind my smoking? 


1 8o TVas She Wife or Widow ? 

Thanks. You see, the first thing to be done in 
learning my profession is to acquire a habit, so 
perfect as to be mechanical, of observing 
instantly and recording permanently in one's 
memory every detail of dress and appearance in 
everybody we meet — everybody, because we 
never know when it may be needed. It would 
surprise you, I fancy, if you could know what 
a gallery of mental photographs T carry about 
with me. Now, Mr. Pelew was sufficiently like 
the description of the young man I wanted to be 
worth considering. I determined to find out 
something about him before I left that night. 
As it fell out, you quite unconsciously assisted 
me at the outset by starting the conversation off 
in the very direction which I wished it to take.” 

‘‘ 1 don’t remember,” interposed Herbert. 
‘‘ How did I do it?” 

‘‘ Do you remember that when you introduced 
us you mentioned casually that I was engaged 
in hunting for the whereabouts of your old 
friend, Professor Purfleet?” 


How Herbert was Astonished, i8i 


No/’ said Herbert, laughing ; I can’t say 
that I do.” 

Well, you did,” said Mr. Wenlock, lighting 
a new cigarette from the stump of the old one, 
and our young friend responded : ‘ Indeed !’ 
Not much to catch hold of in that remark, eh ? 
But my ears are fine ; they need to be ; and it 
isn’t so much what a man says as how he says it 
that I cling on to. In that ‘ Indeed,’ though 
you didn’t notice it — you couldn’t be expected 
to — there was a slight but unmistakable touch 
of alarm. Point number one to me, and nobody 
the wiser. What happened after that?” 

Upon my soul, I haven’t an idea,” said Her- 
bert, seeing that an answer was expected. 

‘‘No?” said Mr. Wenlock, with affected 
astonishment. “Then I will tell you. Mr. 
Pelew had a pipe in his mouth, and he began 
smoking with extraordinary vigor. Of course, 
that might have been his usual custom, but 
tobacco smoke is very useful when you don’t 
wish to be observed too closely. In a few 


i 82 


Was She Wife or Widow ? 


minutes, he choked, as I anticipated. He wasn’t 
accustomed to absorb so much tobacco in so 
short a time. But that cough meant something 
more. I happened to be saying at the time — 
quite by chance, you know,” he added, with a 
very near approach to a wink — that nothing 
would be heard of Professor Purfleet until I got 
hold of the young man who presented the 
check. That hit him where he lived, as an 
American friend of mine used to say. My next 
move was simple. I took advantage of that 
choke to suggest that it would be better if you 
would open a window. You asked him if he 
minded, and he said : ‘ No.' But he didn’t like 
it. You see, he knew as well as I did that when 
the atmosphere was thinner, I should see him 
better. 1 kept on talking, and all of a sudden 
he developed a bad cold. A pocket-handker- 
chief is quite as useful as tobacco-smoke as a 
screen, but more conspicuous. Presently I 
asked you, in the natural course of argument, 
how old you were, and you answered up as 


How Herbert was Astonished. 183 


innocent as any lamb. Then I asked him. He 
answered, also, but he wasn’t quite so ready. He 
distinctly boggled at it. ‘Twenty — five,’ he 
said. Just about the age of the man I wanted. 
His cold at once grew worse, and he made that, 
somewhat lamely, his excuse, and left.’’ 

“ Upon my word, Mr. Wenlock,” said Her- 
bert, with admiration, “ you astonish me.” 

“ I’ve astonished a good many people in my 
time, Mr. Torrington,” said Wenlock, dryly. 
“ I shall astonish that young man before I’ve 
done with him, unless I’m much mistaken.” 

“ Well, what did you do after your suspicions 
were aroused in this way ?” 

“ Oh, then I just made certain that I was 
right, which was easy enough. I got hold of a 
clerk who had seen my gentleman at the bank 
on the morning he presented the check, per- 
suaded him to keep a still tongue in his head, 
and sent him to keep a lookout at the college- 
gates one afternoon. The same evening I had 
in my hand the proof of his identity.” 


1 84 IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


But why didn’t you have him arrested right 
off?’' exclaimed Herbert. 

“‘Have him arrested!’" repeated Mr. Wen- 
lock, wit a queer expression. “ What for ?’’ 

“ Why, for — well, for — for — ’’ stammered 
Herbert, at a loss for a reason. 

“Exactly," said Mr. Wenlock, as if his ques- 
tion had received the most conclusive answer 
possible. “ You see, there was nothing to bring 
up against him. The check was as right as 
rain. Of course, if 1 had wanted to, I could 
have got a warrant on some trumped-up 
charge, such as unlawful possession, or some- 
thing of that sort; but as his imprisonment 
happened to be the very last thing likely to 
serve my ends, I didn’t try it." 

“ Why not ?" inquired Herbert. 

“ What possible use could it be to me ?" 
replied Mr. Wenlock, carelessly. “ I was on the 
track of Professor Purfleet, not Mr. Pelew. The 
knowledge that there was something going on 
between them was sufficient for my purpose. 


Hozi) Herbert was Astonished, 1S5 

Mr. Pelew in jail would have been useless; nay, 
worse, for it would have put them on their 
guard. I knew, from your account, that he was 
pretty safely settled, if I didn’t give him a 
fright, and it suited my book much better to 
leave him, to all appearances, free as air, and to 
watch him until I caught him in the act of 
communicating with the party I was after.” 

And have you?” asked Herbert, eagerly. 

“Well, that’s what gets me,” answered Mr. 
Wenlock, with considerable vexation. “ 1 
haven’t; I thought my course would be plain 
sailing after that discovery, but I was jolly well 
mistaken. Not a sign of any kind has passed 
between them. Mr. Pelew receives no letters, and 
writes none. Not a note, message or telegram 
could have left or entered that house without my 
hearing of it. He lives the life of a hermit, has 
neither friends nor relatives that I can find and 
goes nowhere except to the college, the Pur-r 
fleets’ and here. In short, I’m just as wise at 
this blessed moment as I was that evening.” 


PVas She Wife or Widow f 


1 86 


I presume from your intimate acquaintance 
with his proceedings that you have vVatched him.” 

‘‘ Why, of course I have. Like a hawk.” 

Herbert had it in his mind to inquire whether 
Pelew’s visits to the Purfleets were of conspicu- 
ous frequency, but, angry and grieved as he was 
at Gladys's betrayal of himself, he put away such 
a means of enlightenment as unworthy of a 
gentleman. 

Well, what do you propose to do next?” he 
asked, sympathizing with Wenlock's annoyance. 

“Just what Pve been doing all along,” he 
replied with decision. “ Wait and watch.’' 

“Well — but — Mr. Wenlock,” said Herbert, 
awkwardly, “ of course it will seem ridiculous, 
if not impertinent, to a man of your remarkable 
penetration that a blind bat like myself should 
presume to offer you any advice, but suppose 
you are wrong, not in your details, but in your 
main conjecture and that after all Professor 
Purfleet has been — ” 

“Made away with?” concluded Mr. Wenlock, 


How Herbert was Astonished, 187 


as Herbert hesitated. No, sir. That is quite 
impossible. I told you the reasons against your 
theory some time back, and nothing has turned 
up since to refute them. Take my word for it, 
Mr. Torrington, your old friend is still alive. 
There's some mystery in the matter, hanged if I 
know what, but I am perfectly certain that it is 
nothing whatever of that kind. Wait, wait, 
that's our only game." 

What do you expect to get by it?" 

“ My view is that Mr. Pelew is helping the 
professor's hand in some way. The old gentle- 
man must be pretty helpless by himself, and, 
having failed to land that five thousand he 
played for, is bound to run short of cash before 
long. If I am right he must and will then 
communicate with Pelew, not knowing he is 
shadowed, and when he does I've got him." 

‘‘ But what can possibly be his reason for such 
extraordinary behavior ?" 

Ah ! It's too early to ask that question yet, 


i88 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


sir. Who can tell ? Maybe a mere freak, 
maybe something worse.** 

In the meantime — ** 

In the meantime, as you have found all this 
out in spite of me, I must ask you to assist me in 
every way to carry out my plans. Behave to 
Mr. Pelew exactly as you have been doing all 
along. Don’t let him suspect from a tone of 
your voice, a glance of your eye, a quiver of an 
eyelid even, that you know anything more of 
him now than you did a week ago. Do nothing, 
say nothing and leave the rest to me. He shan’t 
escape, I promise you. The first attempt of that 
kind that I see shall be my signal for coming 
down on him. But he won’t try it. He’s nice 
and comfortable where he is now, and he won’t 
stir without a very good reason for doing so. 
All that you have to do is to be careful not to 
give him one.” 

Upon my soul, Mr. Wenlock,” exclaimed 
Herbert, under the circumstances I am inclined 
to agree thoroughly with you, and to wish with 


How Herbert was Astonished. 189 


all my heart that this fact had never come to my 
ears/' 

Yes, sir," assented the detective, it would 
have been better, but it can’t be helped now, so 
we must just make the best we can of it, and 
trust to luck to pull you through." 

Of course," resumed Herbert, I will do my 
best to carry out your wishes with regard to 
Pelew, but I am grievously afraid that the best 
will be but bad. I have not, as you so truthfully 
remarked, your practice in concealing my 
thoughts and feelings, and I do not know how I 
am going to meet that man day after day, and 
not let him see what a restraint I am compelling 
myself to put upon my words and actions in his 
presence." 

Well, sir," said Wenlock, it is difficult, I 
allow, until you are used to it. If you will take 
my advice, you will take care to see as little as 
possible of him out of business hours ; and to 
help you through, let me tell you one thing of 
which I feel sure, though I cannot give you any 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


190 

reasons that you would consider sufficient for 
the belief : Mr. Pelew is not responsible for 
Professor Purfleet’s retirement. He is an 
accessory after, not before, the fact, and what 
he has done has been prompted by a mistaken 
sense of kindness to your old friend. He knows, 
but is not in any way implicated in the cause. 
I can’t prove it, but I am as certain of it as if I 
could.” 

‘‘Thank you, Mr. Wenlock,” said Herbert, 
gratefully. “ I will take your word for it, and I 
can assure you that you have lightened the 
burden of my task immensely.” 

“ One thing more,” said Wenlock, as he rose 
to go, “ promise me that, if by any chance you 
should do or say anything to arouse his sus- 
picions, you will send me warning of the fact 
without a moment’s delay.” 

“ I promise,” said Herbert, and the detective 
went his way. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HOW THE BOLT FELL. 

The task Herbert had set himself, at the 
instigation of Mr. Wenlock, was indeed one of 
portentous difficulty ; to meet Pelew with an 
unmoved countenance was a terrible trial to his 
naturally open nature. It was not made easier 
by his doubts as to how and for what reason the 
young man had aided Professor Purfleet in his 
escape. He had, it is true, the detective’s 
assurance that his assistance had been rendered 
in a friendly spirit, but this was avowedly 
founded on insufficient evidence, and could not 
carry complete conviction to his soul, much as 
he wished to believe it. 

[191] 


lg2 Was She Wife or Widow f 

As he lay upon his bed, tossing wearily to and 
fro during that long Sunday, he strove to find 
some ray of light to penetrate the mystery. 
Who was Pelew, and what was his connection 
with the professor? What hidden cause had 
driven his old friend to such a compromising 
course of action ? Why, if he had need of some 
one to confide in, had he not chosen him, the son 
of his schoolmate, the betrothed of his daughter? 
In spite of Wenlock’s assertion, Herbert could 
not but believe that Pelew's interposition had 
been unsought, perhaps even undesired. 

The dangers of the first meeting, at lecture 
next morning, were modified to some extent by 
a marked change in the behavior of his assistant. 
He, also, seemed to have some reason for holding 
aloof, and when the morning’s work was finished, 
and the preparations which had been made for 
it cleared away, he asked, and readily obtained, 
leave of absence for the rest of the day. Herbert 
was too glad to be relieved of the constraint 



mm 




TORRiNGTON’s ACCUSATION.— /Sfee Chapter XIII. 




ik 


Jt 


m 





How the Bolt Fell 


193 


of his presence to ask the meaning of this 
unusual request. 

Whether he would be able to continue for long 
such an attitude of dissimulation was a question 
which Herbert was not, as it happened, called 
upon to decide, for that same night an event 
occurred which rendered all further concealment 
impossible. 

He was smoking an after-dinner cigar in his 
sitting-room, thinking bitterly enough of Gladys 
and her incomprehensible betrayal of himself, 
and wondering by what means he could discover 
and chastise the partner of her treachery, when 
the door opened and a lady entered the room. 
His first wild thought was that it might be 
Gladys, come to confess and explain, but as she 
hurriedly cast aside the veil and cloak which she 
wore, he saw that it was Mrs. Purfleet. 

‘‘ Bertha !*' he cried, springing to his feet, and 
casting his unfinished cigar into the fire. What 
folly, what madness brings you here at night and 
alone?'' 


194 


IVas She Wife or Widow? 


H ush she said, eagerly, I must speak to you 
at once. I thought that, even if I wrote to you, 
you would not come, so 1 had no choice but to 
take you by surprise.'* 

“What is it now?*' he groaned, for he knew 
by sad experience that any news Bertha might 
be the bearer of was sure to mean more misery 
and distress of mind. 

“ Another check has been returned to me from 
the bank, to-day," she said. 

“ Signed, as the last was, by Professor 
Purfleet ?" 

“ Signed by Professor Purfleet, but the name 
has been filled in by another hand." 

“ By whom ?" he gasped. 

“ By Gladys, of course," she answered, fixing 
her glittering eyes upon him. 

“Whose — whose name is it?" he asked, in 
mystification. 

“ Look," she said, holding the check out to 
him. 

He took it, and uttered a hoarse cry of rage. 


How the Bolt Fell. 


195 


as the. name encountered his gaze. He turned it 
over, and there on the back the same name, 
clearly written, met his eyes. The check was 
payable to and indorsed by Richard Pelew. 

‘‘Do you understand?*' she asked in a cold, 
emotionless voice, as he sank into a chair with a 
groan of heart-broken despair. 

Yes, I understand," he answered.. 

“ What shall you do ?" 

“Do!" he cried. “Do! I don't know. I 
must have time. I must think. Go — go and 
leave me to myself. Your work is done, now go." 

“ You will do nothing rash ?" 

“ Rash !" he exclaimed with a burst of insane 
laughter. “ There go^go---and quickly^ 

“ What !" he cried, what does this mean ? I 
must have time! I must think! This mystery 
is too much just now for my brain 1 Leave me 
alone !" 

Mechanically he helped her on with her cloak, 
urging her to haste ; and terrified at his mystified 
\vQrd§ and, looks^she shrank from the room, He 


ig6 PVas She Wife or Widow? 


stood motionless for a long time after she had 
left him, and then, striking his forehead with his 
clenched fist flung himself upon the couch and 
burst into a flood of burning tears. 

He understood all now. He had been duped 
alike by Gladys and Pelew. They had met 
before. What had passed between them he did 
not know, he would not think. Pelew's affected 
unwillingness to call upon her had been a lie, and 
he had himself been induced to bring about 
an introduction which had been a hollow farce. 
How they must have laughed behind his back 
at his undoubting trustfulness ! A hope, a poor 
one at the best, relieved for a moment the gloom 
of his reflections. Perhaps Gladys was no more 
than fickle. Perhaps Pelew had known nothing 
of their engagement. But that reed broke 
swiftly even as he grasped it. He remembered, 
too well he remembered, how he had poured out 
to his seeming friend the story of his love. No, 
there was no hope, no hope. 

And that was the man that he had trusted, that 


How the Bolt Fell. 


197 


was the girl that he had loved. Never again 
would he put faith in man or woman. If Gladys 
could be false ; if Gladys under smiles and 
kisses could hide such boundless falsehood, there 
was no such thing as honor, there was no such 
thing as virtue, there could be, he cried in his 
agony, no such thing as a God. 

Now, what was he to do ? All trace of grief, 
of passion was gone from his face. Cold and 
stern and set he crouched gazing into the fire 
thinking, thinking what he should do. Punish 
Pelew, of that he had no doubt — punish Pelew. 
But how ? 

To kill him seemed an altogether inade- 
quate revenge. Oh, that he could devise some 
life-long torture for him, for him — not for her ; 
Even with this hideous blot upon her he loved 
her too much still to think of injuring her ; 
through him and through her conscience only 
she must suffer. No other way. But Pelew? 
What should be done to him? What could be 
done to him at all proportionate to his offence ? 


igS TVas She Wife or Widow? 


He found himself in the street without know- 
ing, without wondering how he had got there. 
In the street, and on his way to Pelew’s lodg- 
ings, a storm which had been threatening 
all day, making the atmosphere sultry and 
oppressive, had broken at last ; and while the 
lightning glared and the thunder rattled and 
scolded, the rain poured down, soaking him to 
the skin ; but he paid no heed to it. It was 
not until he had several times marked the 
timid amazement in the faces of the hurrying 
passengers he met that he realized that he had 
put on neither hat nor overcoat. What did it 
matter? They would think him mad ; but what 
of that? 

Something heavy in his pocket struck against 
his side as he walked. It was his revolver ; but 
he had no recollection of having placed it there. 
It was ready loaded, though he could not 
remember filling the chambers, which were 
empty as a rule. 

“ Not that way! Not that way!’' he said, but 


How the Bolt Fell 


199 


his fingers played with and closed strongly upon 
the polished stock. 

Was he right in his conjecture, his convic- 
tion? Was Gladys really guilty, or was she 
also the victim of the ghastly secret that had 
driven Professor Purfleet from his home. 

Was Pelew’s acquaintance, friendship, perhaps 
even love, forced upon her by some shame or 
terror held over her. Ah, no, that kiss, that kiss 
— for that Pelew had been themidnight visitor he 
felt no longer any doubt. 

A door opened before him, and he was aware 
that it was that of the house in which Pelew 
lived, though he had no consciousness of having 
knocked at it. He thrust aside the startled 
maid without a word, and passed in and up with- 
out heeding some remark she made to him. Up 
and up, until he stood and knocked at Pelew's 
door. 

‘‘ Come in 

The frank, fresh voice struck him like a lash 
across the eyes. 


200 Was She Wife or Widow ? 


He opened the door and went in, without 
violence, without noise, with a dead, unnatural 
calm. 

How are you, Herbert T said Pelew, look- 
ing up from the table over which, as usual, he 
was bending, absorbed in his nightly work. 

Herbert neither moved nor spoke. His brain 
was in a whirl, his tongue refused to move, he 
was conscious onl}^ of a ludicrous embarrass- 
ment. He had come to demand an explanation 
from this man — to inflict condign chastisement 
upon this man who had wrecked his life and 
ruined his happiness, and he did not know how 
to begin. 

Always, from his earliest years, he had been 
governed by an intolerable fear of rendering him- 
self ridiculous, and now, even in that supreme 
moment, the same terror rose above all others 
and held him tongue-tied. His one desire had 
been to find himself face to face with this 
man, and now that he was there, the dread of 
being theatrical ruled him still. He burst into 


How the Bolt FelL 


201 


a fit of mirthless laughter, that rang through 
the room and sounded harshly in his ears. 

‘‘ Good heavens, Herbert cried Pelew, 
springing to his feet in alarm. What is the 
matter with you? You are not yourself. Are 
you ill or — '' 

‘‘Drunk?’' interrupted Herbert. “No, I am 
not drunk." 

He wondered to find himself calmly answer- 
ing this man, this traitorous villain whom he had 
come to unmask and punish, and yet he could 
devise nothing either to do or say. He felt the 
revolver in his pocket. Should he shoot him as 
he stood, without a word ? 

“ What is the matter with you ?’’ exclaimed 
Pelew again, as, coming nearer, he perceived 
Herbert’s bloodless face and burning eyes. 
‘' What on earth has happened ?’’ 

“ ‘ Happened !’ ’’ repeated Herbert. “ What 
has happened ?’’ And then breaking into uncon- 
trollable fury he went on : “ This has happened, 
since you wish to know : My faith, my trust, my 


202 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


love have been torn from me. My hopes and 
happiness have been trampled down into the 
dust by a treacherous friend. I have nothing left 
to live for, nothing to believe in, nothing to 
aspire to. That is what has happened.’* 

Are you mad ? Who has done this thing?” 
Who ! Who ! Can you stand there and ask 
me such a question to my face without a blush? 
Who has done it ? Why you, you scoundrel, 
you ! Deny it, if you dare.” 

What do you mean ?” ejaculated Pelew, 
recoiling before the other’s violence. 

‘'What do I mean? What does this mean?” 
And tearing the check in half he crushed it 
together and flung it in the young man’s face. 
Pelew grew white to the lips, but he stooped 
and picked it up. 

“ Torrington !” he cried in horror. “ How — 
where did you get hold of this ?” 

“ ‘ How — where did you get hold of it ?’ You 
need not lie. I know. It was given to you by 
Gladys, Miss Purfleet.” 


How the Bolt Felt. 


203 

It was. What then?’* 

‘ What then ?’ ’* cried Herbert, who clung to 
each last word of Pelew’s, as if he were an actor 
and that his cue. “ Why did she give you that? 
What hold have you .upon her? What devilish 
clutch upon her life gives, you the right to extort 
such sums from her?” 

‘‘That is no business of yours, and I must 
decline to answer you until you are calmer.” 

‘“Calmer*!” shrieked Herbert, beside himself 
with frenzy. “ I shall be calm enough directly, 
and so will you. The calm of death, my friend, 
the calm of death.** 

He drew the pistol from his pocket as he 
spoke^ but Pelew sprang upon him, before he 
could cock it, and struggled desperately with 
him for possession of the weapon, crying : 

“You are mad, and know not what you do.** 

“ You lie,** said Herbert, as Pelew wrested 
the revolver from his grasp and sent him stag- 
gering backward. “ I know quite well. I know 
that you have come between me and the girl I 


^64 


tVas She Wife or Widow P 


love. I know that by some inexplicable villainy 
you have won her heart from me, and dragged 
her honor to the ground.'' 

Be silent," thundered Pelew. How dare 
you use such language in my presence ?" 

Do you deny it? Do you deny it?" Then 
partly at a venture, partly in his fury, he 
shouted; ‘Hhree nights ago you were in the 
house, secretly, at midnight." 

“ How do you know that?" exclaimed Pelew. 

I was there and I saw you, though I did not 
know you then, since you came, like the thief 
you are, in disguise. You met her. You held 
a conversation with her, and, in the hall, before 
you slunk away, you kissed her. Can you deny 
all this?*’ 

“ I have no intention of denying it. I was 
there, as your eavesdropping revealed to you. 
I did kiss Gladys before 1 left. I had a right 
to do so, if I chose — a right." 

< A right !' " cried Herbert. Ah ! You 
confess." 


How the Bolt Fell. 


205 


He sprang upon Pelew, but, weakened as he 
was by his recent indisposition, he was no 
match for the younger and more active man, 
who, after a brief tussle, forced him to the 
ground, and held him there, pale and trembling 
with baffled rage. 

Listen !’' he said, in a voice that commanded 
attention. Listen, and then crawl on your 
knees to Gladys, and ask pardon for the wrong 
you have done her by your disgraceful and 
unworthy suspicions. Your folly drags from 
me a secret that I meant to keep from all the 
world. 1 should have told you sooner, but I 
could not expect you to believe it, and, though I 
had it in my power to convince you, I had no 
wish to lay such a burden upon one whom I 
have always regarded as a son.’' 

“‘A son!’" exclaimed Herbert, in bewilder- 
ment. Who are you ?” 

Do you remember, when you were a child 
of eight and your dress caught fire at a lamp, 
who beat the flames out and saved your life?’’ 


2o6 


TVas She Wife or Widow? 


‘‘ It was Professor Purfleet/' said Herbert, 
wondering how Pelew knew of it. 

“ Do you remember when, once before, 
meddling with what did not concern you, you 
were about to taste a draught that would have 
killed you instantly, who snatched it from 
you 

‘‘ It was Professor Purfleet,*' Herbert said 
again, wondering still more* 

“ Do you remember, when your father died 
and you were penniless, who came to you, and 
saying : ‘ I am not rich, but I have more than 
enough for both,* offered you two hundred 
pounds a year until you were in a position to 
support yourself and mother?** 

It was Professor Purfleet.** 

It was I,** said Pelew, releasing him. 

‘"You!** cried Herbert, staggering to his feet. 
“ What do you mean ? It was Professor Pur- 
fleet.** 


I am Professor Purfleet. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HOW IT HAPPENED. 

'‘Do you remember the last conversation we 
had in my study 

Pelew, or to restore to him once for all his 
proper title, Professor Purfleet, was the speaker. 
He had succeeded in convincing Herbert, by the 
revelation of many minute particulars of his life, 
which no stranger would be likely to have 
learned, that, wild and incredible as it might 
appear, he was, indeed, Herbert's old friend, 
the professor, and no other, and now, at his 
request, he was about to relate to him how it 
happened that he walked the earth in such a 
questionable form. 

" I do, perfectly," replied Herbert. " I have 

[207] 


2o8 Was She Wife or Widow ? . 

gone over it often enough since, seeking in vain 
to find in it some clew to your mysterious dis- 
appearance. It was about alchemy, magic, the 
philosopher’s stone, and other matters of a 
similar nature.** 

Though much that I then said, as you 
probabh^ guessed, was merely uttered for the 
purpose of provoking you into opposition, there 
was, nevertheless, a substratum of belief in 
everything I advanced. I was not, I asserted, 
prepared to admit that such things were 
essentially unnatural and impossible. I am still 
less prepared to do so now. I had, as I told 
you, been long interested in such matters, and I 
had recently become possessed of a curious, and, 
I believe, unique volume on the subject of the 
‘ Fountain of Youth.’ Having considered the 
numerous classical and mediaeval stories, all 
practically agreeing, though drawn from such 
distant and varied sources, relating to a draught 
capable of restoring youth to the aged, the 
work went on to describe, in the usual vague 


How it Happened. 


209 


and mystical terms, the preparations and 
ingredients of such a mixture. There was no 
more to be learned from these passages than 
from any other of the symbolic and enigmatic 
recipes left by that peculiar school of scientists, 
for so I must still call them. On a blank leaf at 
the end, however, written in faded ink by some 
unknown hand, was an inscription which, though 
in cipher, was of so simple a nature that I was 
able to translate it with perfect ease. It pur- 
ported to be a prescription in due form for such 
a mixture, of which only one ingredient was 
unknown to me. In a spirit of idle curiosity I 
determined to discover what this might be ; and 
having carefully considered all the other com- 
ponent parts, I concluded that it could only 
belong to a particular, series of salts, which 
have long been remarkable for the peculiarity 
and complexity of their affinities. In the spirit 
of a child with a puzzle, I set myself to investi- 
gate these, and, after many failures and more 
than one narrow escape, for some of their com- 


210 


JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


pounds are highly volatile and explosive, while 
others are virulently poisonous, I had succeeded 
that day in obtaining a precipitate, which I had 
reason to believe embodied all the properties I 
desired to obtain/' 

‘‘ What was its nature ?" 

‘‘That,’' said Professor Purfleet, I must 
absolutely decline to reveal. After my own 
distressing experience, I will submit no one else 
to the temptation of committing such a folly. 
The other ingredients, as I have remarked, were 
simple and easily procurable, and even while we 
were discussing the question that night I had all 
the materials at my elbow. Your unwavering 
spirit of denial had roused the aggressiveness in 
me, and when you had taken your departure I 
drew from a cupboard^ where I had deposited 
the colorless liquid which had resulted from the 
mingling of the more common elements, and 
added to them a sufficient quantity of the deep 
crimson powder, which I had that day fabricated. 
The material, which was heavy, at once sank to 


Hozv .it Happened. 


21 I 


the bottom of the glass, and though I waited for 
some time, no apparent change took place. 
Satisfied that I had deceived myself, and that 
my experiments had been futile, I put it on one 
side, and sat down to write some letters before 
I retired. As I fastened up the second envelope 
I stretched out my hand, and taking up, as I 
thought, the glass which contained my whiskey 
and soda, I swallowed the contents. At the 
same moment my eyes happened to fall on a 
photograph of myself as a young man, which 
hung above my table, and nodding to it jocularly, 
I said : ‘ Here is to you, my old friend !’ The 
thought that I had mixed my grog very weak 
passed through my mind, as I proceeded to 
write the letter that remained for me to dispatch. 
When I had finished this my eyes once more 
encountered the vessel containing the draught, 
and I perceived that in my abstraction I had 
nearly emptied it. To my intense surprise, I 
saw that about a teaspoonful which remained at 
the bottom seemed to consist of quicksilver. 


212 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


Not a little startled at this unexpected appearance, 
I took it up, and found that my eyes had not, as 
I thought, deceived me. Though still as light 
and fluid as before, it exactly resembled mercur}* 
in color and opaqueness. I tasted it, and found 
it flavorless ; and absolutely assured from my 
knowledge of its ingredients that it must be 
perfectly innocuous — aware, moreover, that 1 
had already consumed the larger part without 
ill effects — I finished it. As I did not even 
then attach any importance to the potion 1 had 
just unthinkingly consumed, and as I did not 
really believe that its result could be anything 
but mildly tonic, I paid no attention to any 
symptoms, but looking back upon the affair 
afterward, I feel sure that there were none of 
any consequence. I certainly felt no unusual 
sensation of any kind, and I addressed the 
envelope before me without thinking any more 
about it. The first thing that attracted my 
attention was a boldness and freedom in my 
handwriting to which I had long been unused, 


How it Happened. 


213 


but I paid no heed to that. Having finished my 
correspondence, 1 rose to prepare for bed. As I 
moved down the room I was astonished to see 
advancing to meet me a young man with dark 
hair and beard, whose appearance was not 
altogether unknown to me. 

'^^Who are you, and what are you doing in 
my house at this hour of the night ?' I cried ; but 
there was no answer, and the next instant the 
truth flashed upon me. It was myself, 
reflected in the pier-glass at the end of 
the room. The draught had done its work, and 
I was young again. 

My first feeling was one of intense delight, of 
positive exultation. Here was a discovery 
which would bid fair to regenerate the world, 
which must undoubtedly insure to my name 
immortality. I thought of the wonder of the 
public, the consternation and confusion among 
scientific men, and I chuckled, I confess, at the 
extreme bewilderment that you must needs 
undergo at this practical refutation of your 


214 


Was She Wife or Widow f 


skeptical theories. I laughed aloud with all the 
pleasurable light-heartedness of long-forgotten 
youth. 

This frame of mind did not endure for many 
minutes. A feeling of dismay grew up within 
me by degrees, and I began to realize the 
seriousness of the act I had so recklessly 
performed. How could I relate such an 

astounding narrative ? Who would believe me ? 
In this sober, incredulous nineteenth century, 
how could I convince the fin-de-sihle 
of the truth of my assertions ? How could I 
account for this extraordinary alteration, not in 
my appearance only, but in my identity almost? 
For I not only seemed — I was young again. How 
young, 1 did not exactly know, butmy muscles 
had all the elasticity, my nerves all the stead- 
iness, my pulse all the strength of youth. I was 
possibly younger than my wife — younger, per- 
haps, even than my own daughter. I was nearly 
unrecognizable to myself. How could I hope 
to make myself known to other people ? Who 


How it Happened. 


215 


would credit my story ? Even as I put the 
question to myself the answer came upon me 
like a thunderbolt — Nobody. 

Dismay gave place to horror. If 1 was 
found in that room alone, at night, I might be 
arrested, accused of robbery— perhaps of my own 
murder. As this ghastly suggestion crossed 
my mind, 1 heard the rustle of a dress upon the 
stairs, and leaping in an agony of terror to the 
door, I locked it, and leaned, pale and trembling, 
against it, while the perspiration streamed down 
my face. The next moment, some one knocked, 
and Gladys asked if she could come in. It was 
long before I could find courage to trust m}^’ 
voice to falter: ^ No.' Would she observe a 
change ? I wondered. Seemingly she did not, for 
when I told her further that her business could 
wait, she went away with a cheery ^ Good night.' 
I stood shaking in every limb until the sound of 
her footsteps died away in the distance ; and 
then I flung myself into a chair and cursed my 
mad precipitancy. I saw it all now. Without 


2 1 6 JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


thinking what I did, I had flung away home, 
friends, family, position — everything. I was a 
stranger in my own house, an outcast from my 
own dwelling-place. I could not even face the 
daughter I loved so dearly. I must stay no 
longer. There was but one course open to me 
— flight, instant flight. 

And now a further horror seized me. That 
appearance, that but a few minutes past had 
seemed so strange, so unfamiliar to me, was 
growing more and more well known, until the 
fear that no one would recognize me merged 
into the still greater dread that every one would 
recollect my face at once. I took down the 
photograph I have already mentioned, and 
carrying it to the glass with shaking hands, 
compared it closely with the reflection before 
me. 1 had another on glass, taken some few 
years earlier, and I submitted that, also, to the 
same scrutiny, and saw with consternation how 
fearfully, how unmistakably like me both were. 
1 burned the one and ground the other to 


How it Happened. 


217 

powder with my heel upon the hearthstone. 
There was, I knew, a third portrait, which 
Gladys had in her room ; but I did not dare to 
run the risk of venturing there in order to 
destroy it. Then I clipped my beard close and 
shaved it off, and with bungling hands cut my 
hair short in some fashion. I had no longer any 
fears, when that was done, that any one would 
know me. 

“ This consolation was, nevertheless, another 
added terror. It was now absolutely dangerous 
for me to remain where I was. I must escape 
silently, and at once. I searched the drawer in 
which I was accustomed to keep a sum of money 
for current expenses ; but I had that very 
morning paid a rather heavy bill, and only thirty- 
seven pounds in notes and gold were left. 
Thirty-seven pounds with which to begin life 
again, and no prospect, no chance that I could see 
of making more when that was spent ! As I was 
wondering, almost in despair, what I could do, 
my eyes fell upon my check-book. 


2 1 8 Was She Wife or Widow 9 


^ Saved ! Saved !’ I cried, and at once has- 
tened to fill in a check. It was the last I should 
ever be able to draw on that account, so I made 
it for as large a sum as I dared. Too large, as 
it turned out. Then I hurriedly packed a bag, 
taking care to choose such clothes as were 
unmarked, or only had initials, and casting one 
sad farewell glance round the room v^hich had 
been mine, but now could be mine no longer, I 
went out to the staircase and listened anxiously. 
Not a sound could 1 hear save the ticking of the 
clocks and the merry chirp of a cricket in the 
kitchen below. Stealthily I crept down into the 
hall, starting at every sound, my heart beating 
guiltily, feeling in my own house like a common 
thief. I took my hat and overcoat, and once 
more listened at the door. A step was drawing 
near along the street — a policeman's, as I could 
tell by the slow and heavy tramp. He paused 
before the house, and then passed on. I waited 
till the last faint tread had died away, and then 
silentl}" opening the door, I went out, and 


How it Happened. 


219 


closing it as silently behind me, I stood on the 
doorstep, which I might never pass again, self- 
exiled from my home. 

‘‘ In Oxford street I hailed a dawdling hansom, 
and was driven to the hotel to which I afterward 
was traced by Mr. Wenlock. Next morning I 
set out early for the bank. When, on entering 
its well-known portals, I found my old friend’s 
eyes fixed upon my face, I was overwhelmed 
once more with that heart-sickening dread of 
being recognized, and I hesitated, though I 
knew it might be fatal. Gathering courage, I 
presented the check in desperation, and, as you 
know, the payment was courteously but firmly 
refused. I was aghast, incapacitated by conster- 
nation. This was a contingency I had not fore- 
seen ; and now those miserable thirty-seven 
pounds were all I had to live upon. I moved at 
once from the hotel, and took these lodgings, 
which were cheap, a most important point to me, 
and their discomfort was but a small addition to 
my other sufferings. I was utterly crushed 


220 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


by the horror of my fate, the hideous punish- 
ment of my thoughtless tampering with mys- 
teries. I told the landlady that I was a student 
at the Cosmopolitan College, and as I paid a 
month’s rent in advance, she was quite satisfied, 
and asked no questions. 

“ What to do next was then the difficulty. 
My first idea was to appeal to you, to tell you 
all my story. I waited until it was quite dark, 
and then I slunk nervously through the foggy 
streets, and took up a station outside the college 
gates in hopes of catching you as you left. I 
had not been there very long before I heard a 
footstep approaching which I felt sure was yours. 
Any doubts as to the correctness of my surmise 
were dissipated by the lodge-keeper, who spoke 
to you by name, giving you a note, if I remem- 
ber rightly, which you stopped to read in the 
light streaming from his open door. Then you 
came out, and I advanced to meet 3^ou. I saw 
by your face that 3’ou did not know me, and were 
wondering who I was, and what I wanted with 


How it Happened. 


221 


you. Just as I was going to ask you to grant 
me a few minutes private conversation, the folly, 
the hopelessness of the attempt to make you 
believe me, nay, the danger even of speaking to 
you, swept over me. In you lay any hopes I 
had for the future. If once your suspicions about 
me were aroused, if once I became connected in 
your mind with the disappearance of Professor 
Purfleet, the ground was torn from under my 
feet, and I might fall into I knew not what 
slough of disaster. I turned and rushed away, 
fearful that you might follow me, nor did I feel 
safe until I was once more locked securely in my 
room.” 

“ My poor, dear friend,” said Herbert. 
“Would that I had known. Now I understand 
how it was that I seemed to know your face that 
night. How it is that often since I have been 
haunted in your company with a vague recollec- 
tion of having known and spoken to you before, 
and why those impressions have always been 
incomprehensibly connected with my boyhood.” 



CHAPTER XV. 

HOW IT ALL CAME OUT. 

The next morning/' continued Professor 
Purfleet, after Herbert's interruption of his 
narrative, ‘‘ having to a considerable extent 
recovered from the first shock of my catastrophe, 
and the balance of my mind having been greatly 
restored by rest and refreshment, I was able to 
regard the future with more calmness, though 
with but little more confidence. In thinking the 
matter over seriously, I had abandoned all idea 
of revealing my identity to any one. The step 
had been taken, and I must resignedly abide by 
the consequences. I chose the name I now bear, 
Richard Pelew, because it agreed with the 

[222] 


How it All Came Out. 


223 


initials on some of my garments, and determined 
that for the future Professor Purfleet must cease 
to exist. It was a cruel necessity for others as 
well as myself, but it was too late to remedy it. 
There was but one chance for me, one thing that 
must be done at once and that was to make every 
possible effort to discover some antidote to that 
fatal mixture. If I could but concoct some 
draught to counteract its mischievous effects I 
might yet resume my place in society. It would 
not be difficult to invent some explanation of my 
absence, and even if it resulted in a suspicion of 
temporary insanity I could show by my subse- 
quent behavior that such had passed away, and 
that my mind was as sound as before. If I could 
but find an antidote, but to search for this with 
any hope of success, it was essential that I should 
be in possession of apparatus and materials such 
as I could not possibly, under the circumstances, 
afford to purchase. I thought with bitter regret 
of the well-nigh perfect collection of chemicals 
and implements which, either at my own house 


224 


Was She Wife or Widow? 


or at the college, had been at my command so 
short a time back, but it was worse than useless 
to repine, and it was then that I conceived the 
project of returning to the college, and taking 
my place as a student in that lecture theatre 
where I had so recently been instructor. I had 
already recovered from my terror of being 
recognized, and having had my hair trimmed 
and my mustache removed, I felt quite secure. 
Events turned out exactly as I had anticipated. 
As Professor Purfleet failed to put in an appear- 
ance, you were temporarily elected lecturer, 
and on the first occasion when you officiated 1 
took my place in the class. How you asked for 
my assistance in the experiments, and subse- 
quently pressed me to continue it, you know ; 
and this explanation will convince you that you 
need no longer feel any mortification at the 
superior skill which I displayed and which you 
could not be expected to possess.'' 

But, why," interposed Herbert, with your 
immense knowledge, did you not apply for some 


How it All Came Out. 225 

post where you could exercise it, and enjoy a 
proper reward for your labors C 

I see, my dear Herbert,'’ answered the 
professor, ‘‘ that you do not as yet thoroughly 
appreciate all the difficulties of my novel position. 
I was, to all appearance, an extremely young 
and, presumably, inexperienced man, and did not 
dare to exhibit all the learning that my actual 
years had procured me.^ Moreover, to obtain 
any such occupation as you mention, it would 
be necessary to produce certificates and recom- 
mendations which it was absolutely impossible 
for me to procure. No, that way was barred to 
me, and I had to be content with the humble 
position which you so opportunely offered me. 
It served my purpose well enough, for it enabled 
me to gain uninterrupted access to the articles 
I wanted, and thereby to carry on the search 
for the antidote I was so anxious to procure at 
the earliest opportunity." 

Were they, then, so unsuccessful, after all?" 
inquired Herbert. 


2 26 Was She Wife or Widow 9 


“ Completely/’ said the professor, with a 
groan. I should not be here in this form had 
they not been. I set myself, in the meantime, to 
cultivate your friendship, and having known you 
from your earliest years, I found no difficulty in 
choosing the shortest and quickest ways to 
capture your regard. But though I was in com- 
parative comfort and knew that when my rapidly 
dwindling stock of money should come to an 
end I should be safe in applying to you for an 
advance, still I was far from contented. The 
constant failure of my investigations alarmed 
me, the uncertainty of my position caused me 
much disquiet, and, on the top of all this, came 
the encounter at your rooms with Mr. Wenlock, 
whose suspicions 1 feared had been aroused, 
though I could not imagine that I had said or 
done anything to that end.” 

You were correct in that, at all events,” said 
Herbert. Not only did he suspect you that 
night, but next day he was in possession of 


How it All Came Out, 


227 


conclusive proof that you had presented the 
check/* 

I am not surprised to hear it,** said the 
professor. “ He struck me at the time as being 
a man of remarkable penetration ; but why, in 
that case, has he taken no further steps in the 
matter?’* 

‘‘ Because he has been watching you in the 
hope of detecting you in written or personal 
communication with Professor — with yourself, 
in fact,** replied Herbert, who had considerable 
difficulty in keeping clearly before his mind that 
this young man was in reality the professor. 

I see,** said the latter, with the faintest 
smile. He will have to watch long and closely 
to do that. One other thing distressed me more 
than all the rest together : 1 was torn with anx- 
iety to see my daughter and my wife, whom, in 
spite of her coldness and indifference, I still loved 
devotedly. Then came your offer to introduce 
me to them. My first impulse was to accept 
with enthusiasm, but, on second thought, I 


228 


JVas She Wife or Widow? 


shrank from the danger. It seemed to me, I 
cannot tell you why, that my entrance beneath 
that roof, in my present character, would lead to 
some terrible disaster ; and though I was dying 
to take advantage of your innocent kindness I 
refrained reluctantly until that day when it 
became impossible to further resist your impor- 
tunity without an explanation of the reasons 
which influenced me — an explanation which I 
was naturally unable to give you.’' 

Well, you must allow," said Herbert, that 
your presentiments of evil were unfulfilled." 

They have been, up to now," remarked the 
professor, mournfully; but who can tell what 
the future has in store for us? I cannot shake 
off my apprehension that some ill will yet come 
of it. However, it is now too late to think of 
that. You had your way, and with many mis- 
givings 1 went. The agonies of self-restraint I 
suffered are more than I can describe. Once, on 
that walk, your kind and loving expressions with 
regard to myself nearly led to my betrayal. 


How it All Came Out, 


229 


Again, when 1 found myself once more beneath 
that familiar roof, I almost let out my secret by 
revealing my previous knowledge of the house. 
Fortunately it escaped your notice ; but the 
worst was yet to come : When I entered the 
drawing-room, where Gladys was seated, her 
little dog, whether he instinctively recognized 
me or not I cannot tell, rushed to me and began 
wildly leaping and barking round my knees. 
Unconsciously, forgetting my strange situation, 
my altered aspect, I exclaimed: ‘‘ Down, Chlor- 
ine, down!’' It was over in an instant, but 
though I would have given my right hand to 
recall the words, it was too late. I glanced at 
Gladys and I saw that the veil had been torn 
from her eyes at least, and that she knew at once 
who I really was. The next moment you entered 
the room, and any further explanation between 
us was for that time prevented.” 

‘‘ Gladys knew it all along,” cried Herbert, in 
an agonized voice. Poor, brave, noble girl ! 
What have I done ? How can I ever hope to 


230 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


obtain her forgiveness for the sufferings I have 
so cruelly and unjustly heaped upon her inno- 
cent head, already burdened enough with grief ? 
Your forebodings have been fatally justified/' 

‘‘ Do not blame yourself too severely," said the 
professor. You could not know, and 1 do not 
doubt that Gladys will gladly forgive you, and 
willingly forget the troubled past." 

“Oh, why, why did you not tell me sooner?" 
groaned poor Herbert, overwhelmed with a 
fearful remorse that wrung his heart. “ If it 
should be too late !" 

“ I would willingly have done so, my poor 
boy," said the professor, soothingly, “ but, 
indeed, I did not dare. Consider dispassion- 
ately for a moment how much 1 had at stake. 
If I had revealed myself, and you, as was not 
unlikely, had been unable to believe me, I 
should have been branded as a madman or an 
impostor; the means of living, which I had so 
happily found, would have been torn from me, 
and the access to her presence, which 1 valued 


How it All Came Out 


231 


too highly to risk lightly, would inevitably have 
been forbidden tome/’ 

But did you never consider what dreadful 
misery your intercourse might cause?” 

Never for a moment did such a thought 
enter my mind. Conscious of my inalien- 
able right to the familiarity I enjoyed, it 
never occurred to me until this afternoon in 
what a light it might appear to you. Nor do I 
believe now that such an idea would ever have 
arisen in your breast, had it not been maliciously 
stirred to life by that woman, of whom I will 
speak no evil, for she is, after all is said, my 
wife.” 

“ What brought the matter to your attention 
this afternoon ?” asked Herbert, anxiously. 

Gladys herself,” he answered. She sent 
me an urgent message to attend that party last 
night, to which otherwise I should never have 
ventured to go, knowing, as I well did, how 
great was the danger of encountering some 
friend of my early days, who might recollect 


^ 3 ^ She Wife or Widow f 

my appearance. I took the risk, however, for 
her sake, and, as I feared, almost the first person 
I met was my old friend, the cashier at the 
bank, and I saw at once that 1 was recog- 
nized, not, indeed, as my real self, but as the 
presenter of that check. It was then too late to 
draw back, and I had to put the best face pos- 
sible upon the matter ; but as it happened I had 
incurred the hazard for nothing. That Miss 
Maldon attached herself so closely to my side, 
and Gladys was so incessantly followed by my 
wife's suspicious eyes, that I was unable to 
obtain even a minute’s uninterrupted conversa- 
tion with her, and I had to be content with a 
hasty appointment for this afternoon. Then she 
told me all — the scene the other night, and your 
reproaches — and begged me, regardless of all con- 
sequences, to tell you my miserable story 
without further delay. I should have come to 
you to-night, had you not forestalled me. Now 
you know the truth, and I am authorized to tell 
3 ^ou from her that, deeply hurt as she felt, she 


How It All Came Out, 


233 


owns freely that you were, to some extent, justi- 
fied in your doubts, by appearances/' 

‘ To some extent,' " said Herbert, dismally. 

But I gave a solemn promise to trust her. 
What madness drove me to break it? No, 
she never can — she never ought to forgive me. 
I cannot ask her to do so, after my insane 
behavior. I cannot tell you what joy it is to me 
to know that she is true and spotless, as I always 
thought her, but all the same my happiness is as 
irretrievably ruined as if you had never related 
to me your extraordinary history." 

Come, come, Herbert," said the professor, 
** you look at things with too jaundiced an eye. 
As to not asking her forgiveness, you owe her 
that reparation, and are bound to do it." 

'‘And do you think she will forgive me?" 
asked he, not without reviving hope. 

" I have not the faintest doubt that she will 
gladly do so," said the professor. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOW HERBERT WAS FORGIVEN. 

Poor Herbert did not enjoy much sleep that 
night, after his interview with Professor Pur- 
fleet was concluded. In the first place, the 
story he had listened to, though he was utterly 
unable to doubt a word of it, was so strange, so 
absolutely outside all the rules of chance that 
regulate our common lives, that, though he was 
forced to believe it at the time, it was not 
without a severe effort that he could afterward 
bring himself to give to it that almost uncon- 
scious acceptance which we afford to things 
which we credit without comprehending. He 
could not gainsay the truth of the professor’s 
extraordinary mishap ; he did, in fact, place 

[234] 



How Herbert Was Forgiven. 


full reliance upon it ; but he found himself 
constantly forgetting it, speculating now upon 
Professor Purfleet, now upon Pelew, unmindful 
of their identity until some turn of thought 
brought him once more face to face with the 
astounding and inconceivable fact that they 
were actually one and the same. 

In order to realize the truth of this, it was 
necessary first to banish forever so many long- 
ingrained prejudices, to stamp out so many 
convictions, to pull down so many cherished 
beliefs. The whole basis of what is and what is 
not, in accordance with reason, was swept from 
beneath him, and he found himself suspended in 
a void in which all things were possible, nothing 
impossible — in which, in very truth, possible and 
impossible ceased to convey any meaning, and 
naught was everything and everything was 
naught.'' 

His mind, strictly trained in scientific methods, 
was completely overset, and he sought vainly 
for some one solid fact — something of which he 


236 TVas She Wife or Widow 9 


could say with assurance : ‘‘ This is so, and 
cannot be otherwise'' — on which to begin build- 
ing up again his shattered conception of nature 
and life. One ray of light alone shone as a 
guiding star and beacon of hope through the 
surging mists and phantoms of the abyss in 
which all his preconceived opinions were 
irretrievably sunk — one belief alone of all that he 
had previously held fast to was restored to him 
— Gladys was innocent. The love and faith he 
had once centered upon her as upon a rock had 
not been anchored in a shifting sand-bank. She 
was true, and that thought saved him from 
plunging into unfathomable chaos together with 
his undermined convictions. 

This happy conclusion of his doubts and 
suspicions, however, was not without its darker 
side. She had passionately appealed to him for 
his entire confidence, and he had declared him- 
self unable to extend it to her. She had begged 
him to wait and trust, and he had declined, with 
what agonies of regret and despair he alone 


How Herbert Was Forgiven. 237 


knew. Much as he loved her, he was not blind, 
and knew she was not faultless ; that, sweet and 
gentle as she was, she had no little pride. Had 
he so injured that pride that the wound would 
never close, the fester never heal? That any 
other man with any self-respect would have 
acted as he had done — that no man who could 
justly call himself one could well have behaved 
otherwise — was well enough as an argument 
from man to man ; but would it avail aught with 
an angry and injured woman? He had refused 
to trust her that dreadful night; would she ever 
permit him to have another chance ? 

All that night, and all next day, until the after- 
noon left him free to put the question to the 
test, he debated the matter; but even when 
Torrington stood in the drawing-room, waiting 
for Gladys to come to him, he did not know 
what sufficient defense he could make — did not 
even feel sure that she would grant him a hearing 
and let him plead his cause. 

The rustle of her soft white skirts upon the 


238 TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


Indian matting shortly answered the second of 
these problems, and he turned to look upon her. 

Ah, how beautiful she was! The very pallor 
of her face, surmounted by the heavy masses of 
her dark brown hair, gave her but an added 
charm. The broad, white brow above her deep 
eyes was stamped with openness and candor. 
How could he ever, even under the most 
irresistible temptation, have been mad enough 
to doubt her? 

‘‘ How could I he exclaimed, unconsciously. 
How could I fail to trust her 
“You did, Herbert,’* she answered, coldly, 
remaining at some distance from him. 

“ I did,” he said, remorsefully. “ Would to God 
that I could deny it, but I cannot. Ah I Gladys, 
can you make no allowance for the anguish of 
that moment ? What could I think when you 
declined to give any explanation, to make any 
excuse ? How could I possibly guess — ” 

“ He has told you ?” she interrupted, without 
moving, fixing her steadfast eyes on his. 


How Herbe 7 ^t Was Foi' given, 239 


“He has told me all/’ he replied, his gaze 
falling before hers. “ Gladys, how could I have 
imagined such a thing? How could I have 
dreamed that that young man was your father?” 

“ And you believed him at once, without 
question, when you would not believe me at 
all?” 

“ Gladys !” he cried. “ Do not be so cruel, so 
relentless. What could I do when you refused 
to give me anything to believe ? I promised to 
accept unreservedly any statement you might 
make, any answer you might give, and you 
rejected my offer.” 

“ What reason had I to believe in your 
assurance?” she asked. “You had already 
given me a solemn promise, and at the first 
temptation you had flung if to the winds.” 

“ Had I not some reason ? Can you altogether 
blame me if my faith gave way?” 

“ I am not here to blame you,” she answered ; 
“ but in perfect trust there is no reason.” 

“Is that 3^our answer?” he said, mournfully. 


240 TVas She Wife or Widow 


‘‘ Is the past irremediable ? Is there for me no 
hope of earning in time forgiveness 7 ' 

<< Forgiveness she cried. 

Glad3^s !*' he exclaimed, seeing a new light in 
her eyes, hearing a new ring in her voice. Am 
I still mad, or is it true that, after all, you can 
forgive, if not forget 7 ' 

He moved toward her, and would have flung 
himself imploringly at her feet; but she stretched 
out her arms toward him as he came, and in a 
moment was wrapped closely in his arms and 
sobbing joyfully upon his shoulder. 

<< Forgive you, my dearest love,** she mur- 
mured, with all my heart. Do you think I did 
not pity you ? Do you think my misery was not 
increased a thousand-fold by the thought of 
what your sufferings must be ? I never loved 
you half so much, Herbert, as when I saw that 
struggle in your mind between love and duty, 
I was proud, my darling, that your honor stood 
so firm ; and cut to the heart as I was by your 
anguish and my own, I was still glad to know 


PELEW’S DISCOMFITURE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE DETECTIVE. SB€ 87 


V 

V 








How Herbert Was Forgiven, 241 


that the love I had won was so well worth the 
wearing/' 

But, Gladys, dearest," he said, presently, 
why did not you tell me, and save all this 
trouble ?" 

'' I had promised my father that I would not 
betray the secret 1 had discovered." 

And you kept your promise," he said, 
dismally, ^‘even at that awful moment." 

She drew his face down to hers and kissed 
him tenderly, before she whispered : 

Herbert, I forbid you to recur to that, even 
to think of it, for my sake. Besides," she added, 
with a shy smile, '' I cannot take any credit to 
myself for my constancy. I should certainly 
have told you then, in spite of all, but that — she 
was there." 

And does not — does not she know ?" he asked. 
Neither mentioned Bertha's name. Each seemed 
to shrink from giving it utterance. 

'' No," answered Gladys. She must not be 
toldt In the first place, she would never believe 


242 


IVas She Wife or Widow? 


it; but even if she did, she would only seize 
the opportunity of his helplessness to carry her 
persecution further than before. Do you know, 
Herbert, that she hates him, poor dear? Isn’t 
it dreadful to think of? I don’t know why she 
should, but she does.” 

Herbert knew why, only too well, but he did 
not enlighten her innocence. He agreed, how- 
ever, that Bertha must be kept in ignorance of 
her husband’s singular fate ; and he adhered 
firmly to this resolution in spite of the many 
temptations, which the next few days brought 
to him, to inform her that her husband still 
lived. 

The difficulty of his position was fully brought 
home to him when, in the first flush of his 
recovered happiness, he proposed once more to 
Bertha that he should relieve her of the annoy- 
ance which the presence of Gladys under the 
same roof caused her, by making the long- 
suffering girl his wife as soon as the necessary 
arrangements could be made, 


How Herbert Was Forgiven, 243 


‘‘ What she exclaimed, in undisguised 
astonishment. You want to marry her ? Have 
you forgotten that scene which we witnessed 
together in the hall the other night?” 

No,” he answered, awkwardly enough. I 
have not forgotten it ; but I have been talking 
to Gladys about it lately, and she has explained 
everything to my complete satisfaction.” 

Indeed !” sneered Bertha. “ May I be 
permitted to inquire what explanation she gave 
you ?” 

I cannot tell you that,” he said. ‘‘ All that I 
can say is that I am quite satisfied.” 

‘‘ I congratulate you on your amiability,” she 
replied, with a bitter smile. Perhaps you will 
so far condescend as to tell me who was the 
young man who behaved so — familiarly.?” 

I cannot tell you that either,” he answered, 
with growing embarrassment. 

‘‘ Really! You are willing to remain ignorant 
of that, and rest content?” 


244 


PTas She Wife or Widow 9 


“ I am not ignorant of it/’ he said, hotly. “ 1 
know, but I cannot tell you.” 

‘‘A most charming mystery, I am sure. You 
find the girl to whom you are engaged in the 
embrace of a strange young man at midnight, and 
in spite of that, you take her back on the strength 
of a story so weak that you are ashamed to 
confide it to me.” 

I am not in the least ashamed,” he cried, 
indignantly ; but there are strong reasons.” 

‘ Reasons !’ What reasons, pray ? Are they 
yours or hers ?” 

‘‘ Neither,” said Herbert, unguardedly. 

Oh — his !’’ she cried, and burst into exasper- 
ating laughter. ‘‘You are, indeed, more good- 
natured than I fancied. You take her back for 
his sake.” 

“ All this is beside the question,” he exclaimed, 
angrily. “ Will you give your consent ?” 

“ How can you dare to ask me such a thing?” 
she answered. “ Have I not told you that I love 
you, Herbert — love you with a passion that that 


How Herbert Was Forgiven. 245 


girl cannot comprehend. Do you imagine that 
of my own free will I shall destroy all chance of 
my own happiness by giving you to her? 
Never, while it is in my power to prevent it, 
will I permit you to disgrace yourself and ruin 
my hopes by that accursed marriage !” 

“But that is absurd, Bertha,'' said Herbert, 
who, armed now with the knowledge of the 
motives of her conduct, had decided how to 
combat her resolve. Even to the least conceited 
of men the certainty that a beautiful woman 
loves him, however vainly, cannot be altogether 
ungratifying ; and Herbert, though the madness 
that had possessed him for a moment when he 
first felt the power of this passion, had passed as 
quickly as it came, could not but pity the subject 
of this hopeless infatuation. He had not the 
heart to try to crush it violently out, and he 
glossed over this weakness by arguing that, even 
if he should attempt to do so, he would fail. To 
discuss the matter freely with good-humored 


246 IVas She Wife or Widow? 


and contemptuous frankness seemed to him the 
surest method. 

‘‘ What is the use of talking in such a fashion 
when you have a husband already ?’' 

‘‘ He is dead/' she answered. Dead to me, 
at any rate. He has cruelly deserted me, left me 
to starve, for all he knew, and I will get a divorce 
from him." 

You know quite well that desertion is not 
sufficient," he said, laughingly. The idea of 
Bertha left in helpless poverty amused him, for 
he knew that she had lost no time in obtaining 
legal authority to manage the professor's affairs 
until his fate was certain. 

‘‘ I will be revenged somehow. I can have 
him punished for leaving me, and I will." 

‘‘ I am afraid that you will have to go on the 
parish and live on bread and skilly to do that, 
and I don't think you would find that altogether 
agreeable to your habits." 

I would do even worse than that if I could 
so obtain my ends," she said. But that can 


How Herbert Was Forgiven, 


wait till he is found. Meantime I am his repre- 
sentative, and I refuse my consent entirely.” 

'‘Take care, Bertha,” he said. "We can 
manage it without your permission, you know.” 

" Of course you can,” she replied, scornfully, 
"if you care to descend to such a contemptible 
artifice, but you do it at your own risk. Gladys 
is at present completely dependent upon me. 
By her father's will, it is true, she inherits a 
considerable fortune, but that for some time to 
come is of no more use than so much waste 
paper. I cannot watch her so closely that you 
shall be unable to marry her by stealth, but not 
one farthing shall she receive from me if you 
do. You know whether you are in a position 
to support her without, or not.” 

Herbert knew, as well as she did, that he was 
not. Still less than ever, now that he felt that 
the ill-starred professor was under his care, but 
it was not this reflection which caused him to 
answer, fiercely : 

"You know perfectly well, Bertha, that I 


248 JVas She Wife or Widow ? 


should never think of such a thing. If you per- 
sist in your refusal, we must wait. After all, 
she will be of age in a year.*' 

And then will come into her mother’s for- 
tune,” said Bertha, mockingly. ‘‘ Well, wait, 
wait by all means. But do not be too sanguine. 
Much may happen in a year.” 

What do you mean?” he cried, startled by 
the expression of her face, and the malevolence 
with which the few words were inspired. 

‘^‘Mean?’” she said, flushing, mean that 
you may repent of this curious and inexplicable 
forgiveness. That you may find cause to regret 
your precipitate complacency.” 

‘‘ Bertha !” he exclaimed, angrily, rising to his 
feet. '' Do not dare again to breathe such 
insinuations in my presence. Think shame of 
yourself for harboring such evil thoughts. 
What right have you to pass such judgment 
upon one who is as innocent as she is beautiful?” 

She shrank back, manifestly alarmed at the 
vehemence with which he uttered the last words^ 


How Herbert Was Forgiven. 249 


but it was with an affectation of supreme indif- 
ference that she replied : 

Oh, very well. If you are satisfied, I have 
no more to say. Let us allow, then, that you 
may change your mind. That you may weary 
of her affection, and learn to appreciate a love 
which now you trample scornfully under your 
feet.^^ 

‘‘ Never cried Herbert. All my happiness 
is bound up in Gladys, and neither you nor any 
one else will succeed in tearing her out of my 
heart and life.’' 

‘‘ Do not be too sure,” she answered, with 
flashing eyes. Life is uncertain.” 

As he turned on his heel and left the room 
without further answer, she gazed after him for 
a moment, her features drawn with the agony 
of her mind, and then flung herself face down- 
ward on the couch in a passion of stormy tears, 
gnawing the embroidered cushion, her breast 
filled with mad anger, and longing for a hideous 
revenge on Gladys. 


250 


TVas She Wife or Widow 9 


“ He loves her. He loves her,” she thought, 
bitterly, and then as the blank future rose up 
before her, “ if she were dead. If she were only 
dead !” 



CHAPTER XVIL 

HOW A SCHEME. WAS THWARTED. 

What would be the end of it all ? was a question 
that henceforth troubled not Herbert alone but 
Gladys and Professor Purfleet. That things could 
not continue long as they were was obvious to 
all three, but not one of them could suggest a 
solution of the difficulty. The unfortunate pro- 
fessor’s researches, in quest of an antidote to that 
disastrous draught, had proved altogether 
fruitless, and it became clear in time that all 
hope of escape for him from his present form and 
position must be finally abandoned. Pelew he 
was, and Pelew he must remain till death relieved 
him — if, indeed, that release awaited him — for 

[251] 


252 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


he did not know how complete the action of the 
mixture might be, and it was quite within the 
bounds of possibility that its effects were per- 
manent and that he was doomed to remain the 
same age forever. 

Under the circum.stances, what was to be done ? 
Herbert's income had never served for more than 
a sufficient support to himself and his mother, 
and a long illness that had befallen her that 
year had made considerable inroads upon his 
resources. Come what might, he declared 
to himself, nothing should induce him to restrict 
her allowance in any way. Any sacrifices that 
must be made, and he foresaw that they must 
undoubtedly be many, should be made by him, 
not her. In the meantime, utter penury came 
nearer and nearer every day. He did his best to 
conceal the straightened state of his affairs from 
his old friend, but even when he discovered it, 
as he unavoidably did in the end, no relief came 
from that. The professor, to be sure, wished to 
insist upon ceasing to be a burden upon his 


How a Scheme Was Thwarted, 253 


shoulders ;• but as without his support he must 
speedily have fallen a victim to absolute starva- 
tion, Herbert would not hear of his withdrawing. 
Where, indeed, could he go and what could he 
do? Though having skill and knowledge, the 
professor was as incapable of earning a liveli- 
hood then as the newest student at the college. 

If anything had been decided there it might 
have removed some of their anxiety, but the term 
was drawing to a close and the council seemed 
to consider it unnecessary to make any perma- 
nent arrangements until the next should com- 
mence. Herbert continued to deliver his daily 
lecture, and the professor to act in his humble 
position of subordinate, but nothing had been 
broached as to any recompense for these ser- 
vices, and fearing to damage any prospect he 
might have of promotion to the vacant post, he 
refrained from pressing the question unless he 
was absolutely forced to do so. 

He was dismally enough debating with the 
professor how much longer this dangerous step 


254 


TVas She Wife or Widow? 


could be postponed, when the latter suddenly 
thought of a remedy. 

‘‘How stupid lam!’* he exclaimed. “Why 
should not I get Gladys to cash another 
check!” 

“ ‘ Another check !’ ” said Herbert, who, in his 
pre-occupation, had forgotten altogether the 
cause that had brought about his discovery of 
the evil wrought by the fatal potion. 

“ Yes,” answered the professor. “ Don’t you 
remember? It is simple enough. I draw the 
check to Gladys, sign it, antedate it, and she 
obtains the money without difficulty.” 

“ But suppose the question is raised as to how 
she came by it,” objected Herbert. 

“ Why, then, she must give the same explana- 
tion as she did before, namely, that I left them 
with her before I went away. There is no harm 
in it. The money is undeniably mine, and I 
have a perfect right to sign a check and get it. 
It is my misfortune that I am prevented by this 


How a Scheme Was Thwarted, 255 


infernal metamorphosis from appearing and 
laying claim to my own property in person/' 

“ It’s rather risky,” said Herbert, doubtfully. 
‘‘ Bertha’s watchfulness is now fully aroused, and 
any little thing might serve to confirm her 
suspicions and lead her into an investigation 
which might result in her discovering who you 
really are.” 

Of course, it is risky,” said the professor, 
testily ; but even if she finds me out, she cannot 
kill me, however unpleasant she may make 
things for me ; and, anyhow, it is better to take 
the chances of an unknown and not inevitable 
evil than to perish slowly of hunger in the midst 
of plenty. I will make it for a small amount, 
and we must run the hazard.” 

Neither of them imagined what the risk 
meant. Neither foresaw what disaster lurked 
within the folds of that little piece of colored 
paper. The check was filled in for twenty 
pounds, made payable to Gladys, and signed by 
the professor. Herbert himself took it round on 


256 tVas She Wife or Widow f 


one of his visits. It was endorsed by her, 
presented, duly paid, and once more twenty 
pounds in good red gold stood between them 
and poverty. It was so just and honest a 
proceeding, so simple to apply for and obtain 
the money, and so fatal in the end. 

The pressing money troubles thus easily 
and satisfactorily exorcised, peace did not yet 
return to Herbert’s pillow. He was growing 
seriously alarmed about Gladys’s health. The 
incessant persecution to which she was subjected 
was, he feared, beginning to tell upon her nerves ; 
and he raged impotently at his inability to assist 
her in any way. He compelled Bertha to call 
in medical advice ; but this did not seem to 
afford the poor girl any relief. Day by day she 
grew weaker and weaker, paler and paler, until 
she was no more than the phantom of her former 
self. In vain Herbert urged Bertha to send her 
into the country for change of air. She only 
answered with her former insinuations with 
regard to his intention of marrying her against 


How a Sche 7 ne Was Thwarted. 257 


her wishes. His request that she herself would 
take her was met first by scornful laughter at 
his apprehensions, next by hesitating considera- 
tion, and finally by sudden acceptance. When 
she had once decided to go, she seemed strangely 
eager to put the plan into execution, and would 
not rest until a near date had been fixed for their 
departure. 

The night before they were to leave town 
Herbert went round to say Good-bye '' to 
Gladys, and found her lying on a couch, weak 
and ill, complaining of shooting pains in head 
and limbs. As he was soothing her and 
endeavoring to cheer her with pictures of the 
wonderful effects that country life would have 
upon her health, and how soon she would be com- 
ing back quite well and strong again, he hap- 
pened to look up, and met Bertha’s dark, 
unfathomable eyes fixed upon them with a singu- 
lar expression of gratified malice. She instantly 
averted her gaze, but the very quickness of the 


258 TVas She Wife or Widow? 


action gave further life to a hideous suspicion 
that had suddenly sprung up in his mind. 

Where is your prescription, Gladys T he 
asked, when Bertha had left them together. 

“ Here,'* she said, and gave it to him. He 
glanced over it, and saw that it was a powerful 
tonic, containing among other ingredients a 
modicum of strychnine. 

Have you your medicine here ?" he next 
inquired ; and, having obtained it, carried it to 
the lamp, which stood upon a table at some 
little distance. There, under pretense of examin- 
ing it, he managed, without attracting her 
attention, to pour a portion of the mixture into 
an empty bottle which he fortunately found at 
hand. 

I will come round to-morrow and see you 
before you go," he said, as he took his leave. 

‘‘We shall be starting early," said Bertha, who 
had returned some time before. 

“ At what time do you propose to leave 
Waterloo?" he asked. 


How a Scheme Was Thwarted, 259 


By the ten-five/' she answered. 

Oh, never fear,*' said Herbert, coldly. I 
shall manage to get here in time.'* 

Late that night, after several hours careful 
work, Herbert fell back in the chair from which 
he had not stirred since his return, with a terri- 
ble groan of agony. 

She must be mad !’* he murmured, hoarsely, 
between his clenched teeth. She must be 
mad !" 

His worst suspicions had been fearfully con- 
firmed. He had been engaged in making a 
minutely accurate quantitative analysis of the 
medicine he had abstracted from the bottle 
Gladys had given him, and had found that there, 
was in it nearly twice as much strychnine aS; 
there should have been. It might, of course^ 
have been an error of fhe man \vha made up the. 
prescription, but the name on the label was that 
of a well-known chemist, in whonij such a mfsr 
take was almost incredible. 

The yillainpus cunning and simplicity of the 


26 o 


TVas She Wife or Widow? 


scheme, on the other hand, were so manifest. 
By what means Bertha had succeeded in reduc- 
ing the girl’s strength to such an extent 
Herbert did not know, and had no means of 
ascertaining, but that she had in some way done 
so, clearly forecasting what would happen, what 
had happened, he did not doubt. At his sug- 
gestion a doctor had been called in, and, as 
might have been anticipated, had exhibited a 
tonic containing strychnine. To surreptitiously 
increase the quantity of poison by degrees was 
easy, and when finally death resulted, if any 
questions came to be asked, the presence of the 
drug could be fully and satisfactorily accounted 
for. It was so easy, so safe, and so nearly suc- 
cessful. 

Now, what was he to do? That Bertha was 
mad he felt convinced, but it would be impos- 
sible to prove it without revealing the fiendish 
plot he had unmasked, and from that he shrank 
for many reasons. The horror and disgrace 
appalled him. A natural disinclination to take 


Hozv a Scheme Was Thwarted. 261 


a step that might, for all he knew, bring the 
insane, misguided woman to the gallows, held 
him back. That he of all men should wreak 
such dire vengeance upon the wife of his old 
friend, the father of the girl he was about to 
marry, was too terrible to contemplate. Yet at 
any cost Gladys must be saved. 

After much thought he believed lie had found 
his way. Bertha was still young and clung to 
life, and he, if any one, had some influence over 
her. She would doubtless pursue her damnable 
machinations to the end, if she thought she 
could do so with impunity, but if she once 
knew that she was detected, that the sword 
was suspended above her and would fall 
upon her, released by the hand of the one 
person she loved on earth besides herself 
she would not dare to carry further her contem- 
plated crime. 

With anxious care he weighed every proba- 
bility, for did not the life that was dearest to 
him in all the world depend upon his decision? 


262 


TVas She Wife or Widow? 


If he made a mistake, if he overrated, by a 
grain's weight, the amount of his influence, 
the powers of Bertha's fears of ignominy and 
death, Gladys was lost, and he would feel 
himself, as much as Bertha, guilty of her murder. 

It was an awful question to decide, and the 
sky without was purple with the coming dawn 
before he had finally determined that he was 
perfectly safe in taking the course he had origin- 
ally proposed to himself. Worn out as he was 
with work and care he did not dare to go to bed 
lest he should fall asleep, and the last chance of 
life lost to Gladys during his slumbers. Having 
taken a bath to refresh his aching limbs, he 
dressed again, and going out made his way to 
the Regents Park, the gates of which had not 
long been opened. Here he sat down upon a 
bench and presently fell asleep, waking with a 
ghastly terror clutching at his heart, a fear that 
he had slept too long, that the fatal hour had 
struck, only to find that by his watch barely ten 
minutes had slipped away. Was his watch 


How a Scheme Was Thwarted, 263 


right? It was going, to be sure, but it might 
have lost. Not venturing to take another nap 
he walked until he found a clock, and when 
he had satisfied himself that his watch was 
quite correct, walked again, half sleeping, half 
awake, as the light brightened overhead, return- 
ing after awhile to the clock, which somehow 
seemed to him more reliable, and saw that it was 
only half-past six. 

Suddenly a new-born terror overwhelmed 
him. What if Bertha had read the suspicion in 
his face the night before, and, driven to despera- 
tion, had madly completed her work. 

No, he assured himself, that was impossible. 
She could not have guessed ; and if she had, she 
would never dare to brave his anger and his 
vengeance in such a fashion. Nevertheless, he 
could no longer rest in the park, but started off 
toward the Purfleets’ house two hours before 
they were timed to start. Sometimes he ran 
breathlessly, until he saw the dubious wonder in 
the eyes of early stirrers. Then he slackened 


264 TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


his pace for awhile, only to break into a run 
again at last. 

The clock was striking eight as he turned the 
corner — eight. Was he still in time, he won- 
dered, or was all over, and was he doomed 
henceforth to associate the tolling of that morn- 
ing hour with the ill-omened bell of St. Sepul- 
chre’s Church ? 

Eight, but a cab already stood before the 
door. Already one box rested on the roof ; 
another at that moment was being hoisted up. 
He had not been mistaken, he thought, with an 
odd feeling of savage joy. The door was open, 
and a servant stood upon the steps as he passed 
in. 

Take down those boxes,’’ he said to the girl, 
who stared at his grim and haggard aspect. 

Your mistress will not go out of town to-day. 
Bring them in again.” 

As she wonderingly obeyed, he stepped into 
the dining-room. Bertha stood there alone, 
smiling at her own reflection, as she arranged 


How a Scheme Was Thwarted. 265 


her bonnet-strings before the mirror over the 
mantel-piece. 

Now, then, aren’t you ready yet ?” she said, 
snappishly, and turned. 

Yes, I am quite ready,” he said. 

Herbert !” she cried, brokenly, and fell back 
against the shelf behind her, gazing at him with 
starting eyes. 

“ I want to speak to you,” he said. Sit 
down.” And having locked the door and put 
the key into his pocket, he took a seat, while she 
sank, pale and shivering, into a chair opposite. 



CHAPTER XVII L 

HOW THE TRAIN WAS FIRED. 

‘‘We shall miss the train/* said Bertha, faintly, 
after a pause, during which she tried in vain to 
meet Herbert*s stern, fixed gaze. “We shall 
miss the train.** 

“ What train did you intend to go by ?** he 
inquired, in a voice the harshness of which sur- 
prised him. 

“ The eight-forty,** she answered. 

“ Last night you said that you were going by 
the ten-five. Why did you make the alteration 
at the last moment? Why did you make the 
alteration ?’* he repeated, as she made no reply. 

« It — it was more — convenient — in many 

ways,** she stammered, at last. 

[266] 


How the Train Was Fired. 


267 


Was it that you might avoid meeting me?'' 
he asked, ignoring her shallow explanation. 

‘‘ Why should I object to meeting you ?" she 
said, with a feeble attempt at defiance. 

Where do you keep that bottle ?" he ex- 
claimed, suddenly shifting the ground of his 
attack. 

Bertha turned, if possible, still paler than 
before, but made no audible answer. 

‘‘ Where do you keep that bottle ?" he said 
again. 

What do you mean ? Which bottle ? Where 
do I keep what ?" she asked, struggling like a 
trapped creature in the cruel jaws of a gin. 

That bottle which you found among your 
husband's chemicals. Where is it ?" 

How did you know — What do you mean ? 
I do not understand you." 

You do not understand me !" he flamed out. 

I mean that you have in your possession a 
bottle containing strychnine ; that you took it 
from your husband's room in order that it might 


268 IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


not be traced to you ; and that for the past ten 
days you have been adding gradually increasing 
doses of the poison to Gladys’s medicine.” 

‘‘ It is not true !” she cried ; but he could see 
that she was shaking in every limb. 

It is true !” he retorted. Last night I took 
home a portion of her draught and analyzed it.” 

Suddenly, to his surprise, she abandoned all 
further defense and fell forward on the ground 
at his feet, crying to him to be merciful and 
spare her. 

“Mercy!” he said, scornfully. “You, the 
would-be murderess, dare to ask for that! It is 
not for your sake, be assured, that I hold my 
hand. Fetch me that bottle ! If in five minutes 
you are not back with it, I shall go to the nearest 
police station.” 

“ I cannot,” she cried, piteously ; “ I cannot. 

It is packed at the bottom of my box.” 

“ Ah !” he exclaimed, in fierce anger. “ Then 
you were going to take it with you. To finish 
your abominable task unnoticed, unsuspected. 


How the Train Was Fired, 269 


Well, I will give you ten, but not one minute 
more. If you are not here by then, I leave the 
house instantly.'' 

He unlocked the door as he spoke, looking at 
his watch while she slunk past him into the hall 
without. As in a dream, he sat watching the 
second hand of his watch go ticking round the 
little dial. One minute — two— three ! Had he 
done right, he wondered. Was it safe to trust 
to her terror of death ? Four — five — six ! How 
long she was ! Had she, perhaps, taken refuge 
in suicide ? It might be better if she had. But 
no, that was not likely. Seven — eight — nine! 
Still the little black hand moved on, and Herbert 
rose and took his hat when it neared the ending 
of the tenth minute. Even as he did so Bertha 
entered the room, and placed on the table 
before him a small blue bottle, with an orange 
label, stamped large with the word — 


Poison. 


2 70 fVas S^e Wife or Widow 9 

“ Is that all ?” he asked. 

“ That is all,’’ she answered, in a dull voice. 

A sort of leaden despair seemed to have settled 
upon her, carving her features in harsh lines, 
and she looked as if she had aged years in the 
ten minutes just past. Herbert looked at the 
phial, and then slipped it into his pocket. 

“ What are you going to do?” she asked, in 
gasping terror. 

“ I do not know yet. I must think,” he said. 
“ My duty, 1 am aware, is to denounce you.” 

“ Herbert !” she wailed, clasping his knees in 
a frenzy of fear. “ You could not do that. 
Spare me! Spare me ! You promised you 
would not, if I gave the bottle up to you 1” 

“ Get up I” he said, sternly. “ I made no such 
promise, nor will I. What I may do in the 
future must depend entirely upon your conduct. 
If I neglect my plain duty now, take you good 
care that 1 never again find reason to repent of 
my laxity.” 


How the Train Was Fired. 


271 


She rose to her feet, shaken with apprehension, 
and stood clinging to the chair beside her. 

Stay,'' he exclaimed, bringing pen, ink and 
paper from a side table and placing them before 
her, “ sit down here, and write clearly what I 
shall dictate to you." 

Without an effort at resistance she collapsed 
into the chair and prepared to write. 

I hereby freely confess—" he began. 

Confess !" she cried, lamentably. 

Go on. I hereby freely confess," he went 
on, as she once more took up the pen that she 
had dropped, that I deliberately attempted to 
poison my step-daughter, Gladys Purfieet, with 
strychnine contained in a bottle which I with my 
own hands have this day given to Herbert Tor- 
rington. That this is true, I swear. So help me 
God." 

He went and read over her shoulder these 
words written in that firm, upright handwriting 
he knew’ so well, and assured himself that she 
had made no alteration. 


272 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


“ Now date and sign it he said. 

Herbert !*' she cried. 

Date and sign it !” he repeated, raising his 
voice menacingly. 

She seized the paper and made as if she would 
have torn it into shreds, but seeing no sign of 
wavering or relenting in his steady eye, she 
thought better of it presently, laid it down 
again, and, with reluctant fingers, slowly did as 
he bade her. 

“ Give it to me.'* 

He once more read it through, this time aloud, 
and then folding it, placed it with care in his 
pocketbook. 

Is that all ?** she asked, gathering again some 
courage. 

No,** he answered. ‘‘ That is not all. Gladys 
may be safe for the present. I think she is, but 
she is not to be trusted long under your care. 
Who can tell how soon this madness may break 
out again ? Write now your full permission for 
my marriage with her as soon as circumstances 


How the Tram Was Fired. 273 

make it possible for the ceremony to take 
place/' 

I will not !" she cried, furiously, flinging the 
pen from her. I will not ! I will not!" 

‘‘ Do not waste time," he said, restoring it to 
her. “ You both must and shall at once." 

‘‘ Never !" she exclaimed. “ Oh, Herbert, you 
are cruel! Do not ask me. I cannot do it. I love 
you ! I tell you, 1 love you ! It was for you 
I tried to do what you have prevented my com- 
pleting. I will not sign away the faintest chance 
of happiness." 

‘‘ Bertha, you are mad," he said. Write, and 
quickly. Do you suppose that after last night's 
enlightenment I could ever entertain such an 
idea as that? Come, write." 

“ I will not," she answered, with unabated 
resolution. 

Do not force me to a deed we shall both 
regret," he said, taking out his pocketbook. 
“ My wish is to save Gladys without betraying 
your disgrace and crime. To save you also 


2 74 TVas She Wife or Widow 9 

from your worser self. You have five minutes 
to consider what course you will pursue.'* 

She sat unmoved until the limit had almost 
expired, and then, seeing that he was preparing 
to relentlessly carry out his threat, she feverishly 
wrote out the permission he demanded, and 
having finished, flung it at his feet and rose 
to go. 

'' One minute, if you please, Mrs. Purfleet,*' he 
said, detaining her. You said just now that 
the bottle you gave me contained all the poison 
you had in your possession. Think for one 
minute before it is too late. I am warned now, 
and I shall watch Gladys with the closest care. 
If she does not at once begin to improve, if I see 
the slightest change for the worse in her from 
this day forward, I shall at once, without a 
moment’s hesitation, place this document in the 
hands of the proper authorities. Am I to go 
now, or stay awhile ?** 

Stay,” she answered, after a moment’s glar- 
ing pause, and went hurriedly away. 


How the Train Was Fired. 


275 


“ There !” she exclaimed, wildly, on tier return, 
placing a small scent bottle in his hands. “ For 
God’s sake take it away, and relieve me of this 
hideous temptation. I cannot help it. I am, as 
you say, mad. I hate her. She is not safe 
beneath the same roof with me while that stuff is 
near. I should never have dreamed of such a 
deed had not some devil put it into my power. 
It is so easy, so safe, it whispered— no one will 
ever know — until I was distracted. Take it — 
take it — and keep it from me, or I cannot even 
now answer for the consequences.” 

“You may be sure that I shall keep it safely 
enough,” he answered, gravely. 

“ And, Herbert,” she went on, pitifully, “ when 
you think of this, do not judge me too harshly. 
To-day you have shown mercy ; grant me, also, 
a little pity. It was for you, Herbert — for love 
of you. Let that thought hold you back when, 
in your self-righteousness, you would condemn, 
me utterly.” 

Horrified at this ghastly perversion of all sense 


276 TVas She Wife or Widow P 


of moral responsibility, he went away, giving to 
her in his thoughts no small share of the pity she 
asked, and satisfied that Gladys was now safe 
until the day near at hand when it would be out 
of Bertha’s power to injure her further. 

He doubted for a time whether he should 
reveal to Professor Purfleet what he had found 
out, but very soon determined that it were better 
not. It could only cause him unnecessary pain, 
and it would be impossible to explain the 
circumstances without some reference to the 
mad passion which had driven Bertha to the 
attempt. Moreover, the secret was a dangerous 
one to the possessor of it. Herbert believed 
that he had already rendered himself amenable 
to the laws by concealing his knowledge of the 
intended murder, and it was needless to share 
the risk he had knowingly undertaken with a 
third person. Gladys was secure, he felt 
convinced, and he had obtained Bertha’s long- 
withheld consent. In a few days they would be 
happily married, and all further danger would 


I/ow the Train Was Fired. 277 


be at an end forever. That purpose effected, her 
madness might well be permitted to sink 
unpunished into oblivion. 

This pleasing state of cheerful confidence in 
the future was not long left undisturbed. He 
was justified in his belief that Bertha would, for 
her own sake, refrain from further practices 
against Gladys's life ; but fate, soon afterward, 
put into her hands a weapon which she could 
use with safety and with terrible effect, and she 
did not hesitate to employ it ruthlessly, regardless 
of the consequences of rousing in Herbert's 
breast a thirst for vengeance. 

Three days after Herbert's interview. Professor 
Purfleet did not appear to give his usual assist- 
ance at the morning lecture, and, thinking that 
he must be ill, Herbert went round, at the 
conclusion of his day's work, to see if he could 
be of any use to his friend. 

The little servant, who opened the door to 
him, seemed to be in a state of unwonted 
excitement, and ran oft when he asked for Mr. 


278 Was She Wife or Widow P 

Pelew, eagerly summoning her mistress, and 
informing her that a gentleman was asking for 
the lodger in the top-floor front. 

Mr. Pelew ain’t here, sir, any longer,” said 
the landlady, with an air of mysterious solemnity, 
while the small maid-of-all-work stared from 
behind her with all her eyes. 

‘‘ Not here !” exclaimed Herbert. Why, 
where has he gone to ?” 

If you please, sir,” she answered, he was 
took sudden-like this morning.” 

‘^‘Took!’” cried Herbert, in horror, for he 
was well acquainted with the vernacular of his 
informant’s class, and thought that she referred 
to the last dread summons. You don’t mean to 
say that he is dead.” 

‘‘ Oh, no, sir,” she said, smiling faintly. 

Leastways, not as I knows of. It was the 
perlice what took him.” 

‘‘ The coppers !” echoed the child behind her, 
with shrill glee. 


How the Train Was Fired, 279 


police!''' said Herbert, in amazement. 

What on earth for?" 

'Lizer, go and 'tend to your work," said the 
landlady, sternly. ‘‘ I don't exactly know the 
longs and shorts of it, sir ; but there's a gentle- 
man up in his room now, a-rummaging around, 
who might, perhaps, be able to tell you more 
about it, if you care to go and harsk 'im." 

Herbert bounded up the stairs, and dashing 
into the room his friend had occupied, found 
himself in the presence of Mr. Werilock, who 
was sorting papers at the table. 

Good afternoon, Mr. Torrington,’' said the 
detective. I thought perhaps you might be 
round." 

‘‘What is the meaning of this, Wenlock?'* 
cried Herbert. “ Is it true that Prof — that 
Mr. Pelew has been arrested this morning?" 

“Perfectly true, sir," replied Mr. Wenlock, 
calmly. “Arrested here this morning, and com- 
mitted for trial at the next sessions this after- 
noon." 


28 o 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


** Committed already ! But, in the name of 
goodness, on what charge ? I thought )^ou were 
going to leave him at large in order to catch 
him communicating with the professor/' 

So I was, sir," said Wenlock. ‘‘ But, you 
see, my hand was forced, and I had no choice 
but to procure a warrant and get him arrested 
for the forgeries." 

“ Forgeries !" 

That's the charge, sir, and a tolerably clear 
case it is. Three checks signed by the professor 
have been presented since his disappearance, and 
Mrs. Purfleet happened to discover that the 
numbers on them came in direct order after that 
on the one presented by Mr. Pelew, which the 
old gentleman is supposed to have signed the 
night he went away." 

'' Good heavens !" exclaimed Herbert, the full 
horror of the situation breaking in upon his 
dazed mind. And was it on her information 
the arrest was made ?" 

It was, sir. Oh, she's a daisy ! Not content 


How the Train Was Fired. 281 


with that, she was bound to have the young lady 
arrested as his accomplice/' 

“ Gladys !" gasped Herbert, his brain reeling 
beneath the shock. 

Miss Gladys Purfleet was the name,” 
answered Mr. Wenlock. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HOW THE MINE EXPLODED. 

“ Upon my word, you know, most extraordin- 
ary thing I ever heard of said Mr. Sheeter. 

I never could have believed it. Such a 
charming young man as he seemed ! Depend 
upon it, that girl was at the bottom of it,’' 
replied Miss Maldon, as they left the Old Bailey 
together. 

All day long in the dusty, dreary court the 
trial of the unfortunate Professor Purfleet and 
his daughter Gladys had dragged on, while the 
wind moaned outside and drove the pouring 
rain rattling against the dusky window-panes. 
At five o’clock the jury had returned, after but 
[282] 



How the Mine Exploded, 


283 


short deliberation, and had recorded their 
verdict against both prisoners, recommending 
Gladys to mercy at the same time, on account of 
her youth partly, not a little, perhaps, on account 
of her beauty, and of the undoubted influence that 
the male prisoner had over her. The court rose 
as they were led away down the long paved 
passage to the prison ; the barrister, who had 
exerted every ingenuity in their defense, 
shrugged his shoulders and gathered up his 
papers ; while his successful opponent for the 
prosecution congratulated him on his efforts, 
when they got outside, and condoled with him on 
the hopelessness of the task he had undertaken. 

You did your best, my boy,*' he said, and 
no one could have done it better ; but the court 
was dead against you from the very first ; and I 
must say .that I never met a clearer case." 

That, in fact, was the universal opinion. The 
presentation of the first check was sworn to, and 
Pelew completely identified as the man who 
had left it, and never returned. Mrs. Purfleet 


284 She Wife or Widow ? 


proved that, having been carelessly examining 
the three other checks, she had discovered that 
they were numbered in order directly after the 
one for five thousand pounds, and the con- 
clusion that they had been signed afterward was 
irresistible. It was clearly established that Pro- 
fessor Purfleet had never been seen since the 
night of his disappearance ; and though the 
counsel for the defense was instructed to assert 
that the checks had been signed by the professor 
himself, no attempt was made to prove the fact 
by producing that gentleman, nor was any 
indication given as to his whereabouts, or 
evidence as to his continued existence. The 
chain of proof was further strengthened by the 
sworn testimony of several experts, who 
declared that though the signatures were a 
remarkable imitation of the professpPs, they 
were not exactly similar to others produced, 
being obviously the handiwork of a younger 
man. They betrayed none of the weakness dis- 
coverable in the genuine articles, and were in 


How the Mine Exploded. 285 

many important particulars singularly like the 
writing sworn to as the prisoner Pelew’s. The 
presumption that Pelew had fabricated them 
was overwhelming ; the fact that Gladys had 
presented them was undeniable, and the intimate 
connection betweeen her and the alleged forger 
was thoroughly established. Poor Herbert 
himself was forced into the witness-box, com- 
pelled to render a reluctant account of the 
scene he had witnessed in the hall, and merci- 
lessly badgered and bullied in the course of his 
examination by the lawyer, who at once per- 
ceived him to be an unwilling and hostile wit- 
ness. 

Everything that could be done had been done, 
and done in vain. The only defense that was 
really available could not, of course, be pro- 
duced. To calmly plead in a court of law in 
this matter-of-fact and skeptical nineteenth 
century that Pelew was in fact Professor Pur- 
fleet in person, restored to youth by a mysteri- 
ous potion, was a course that the boldest and 


286 


Was She Wife or Widow f 


most hardened barrister would contemptuously 
decline ; and even if one could be found to 
adventure it, he would most certainly have been 
sternly rebuked by the judge for his ill-timed 
levity, laughed to scorn by the court, the public 
and the press, and in all probability ruined by 
the withdrawal of all practice from such a crack- 
brained maniac. 

When Herbert first heard the news of the 
arrest of Gladys and his old friend, he had 
hastened to Bertha in a fury of rage, and had 
endeavored, first by persuasion, and then by 
threats, to induce her to withdraw the charges ; 
but neither soft nor hard words had proved 
equal to the task of moving her. Not even his 
frantic declaration that he would make use of 
the confession she had signed could shake her 
determination. 

Of course,'' she had said, you can do so if 
you please, but it will not avail you much 
Gladys and that man are already committed for 
trial. The matter has already passed beyond 


How the Mine Exploded, 


287 


my control ; and even if I wished to interfere, 
which I frankly own to you I do not, it is 
too late. The machinery is now started and I 
have no means of stopping it/' 

Herbert, in the height of his anger, could not 
deny that she was right. She was as helpless as 
he was. Nor did his vows of vengeance seem 
to disturb her. Having accomplished her 
purpose, and having separated Herbert and the 
girl he loved for, at all events, a number of 
years, she seemed to have no fears for her own 
fate. She said again that he was perfectly free 
to act as he liked in the matter ; that he could, 
without doubt, bring down further disgrace 
upon the name of Purfleet, and possibly condign 
punishment upon her own head ; but that that 
could be of no advantage either to Gladys or — 
her friend. For a moment he cherished the 
wild idea of explaining to her who this friend, 
to whom she referred so sneeringly, really was, 
but he abandoned it as worse than useless, 
remembering how Gladys had said, when they 


288 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


argued the point once before, that even if she 
could be made to believe it, which was most 
improbable, it would only afford further means 
of oppression and add to the rancor with which 
she pursued the unfortunate man who through her 
instrumentality had fallen into the clutches of 
the law. 

Mature deliberation also induced him to 
refrain from acting upon the confession he held, 
seeing clearly that though it might be made to 
serve as a potent weapon of offense, it was per- 
fectly valueless as one of defense, and his mind 
turned more, at that time, to the method of 
protecting the victims than to that of avenging 
them. 

Owing to his position at the Cosmopolitan 
College, and his rising reputation as a scientist, 
he obtained, with some difficulty, permission to 
interview the unhappy professor ; not in the 
barred cage with a watchful warden between 
them, but in the privacy of his own cell. This 
meeting, however, brought little comfort or 


AND C^LADYS LEAVING ENGI.AND .— Chapter XXI, 






N 


; 








How the Mine Exploded. 289 


consolation to either of them. He was dismally 
impressed by the blank cleanness of the dimly- 
lighted.. chamber, in which he found his old 
friend, and the grim simplicity of the furniture 
and appointments, the machine-like adjustment 
of the details of life, the ghastly air of having 
been prepared long since for his especial benefit 
that everything wore, affected him indescribably 
and hindered him from aught but powerless 
condolings. 

He was soon made to realize that the pro- 
fessor thoroughly understood the hopelessness 
of his position — the impossibility of devising any 
adequate defense. The one way of escape was 
barred, and the certainty of his fate seemed to 
have already reconciled him to it. The anguish 
of suspense at all events was lifted from him, but 
for Gladys he was in unutterable despair. That 
he had brought this punishment upon himself by 
his own reckless folly, and that he must endure 
in patience even this undeserved penalty was 
self-evident ; but that she should be made to 


290 IVas She Wife or Widow 9 


suffer, and, through her, Herbert, also ; that 
their young lives should be ruined, their budding 
happiness blighted by his thoughtlessness, was a 
reflection that weighed upon him day and night, 
and drove him almost to madness when he 
perceived his inability to avert the impending 
doom. 

Herbert in vain sought to console him. What 
could he say, when the same hideous prospect 
stared him also in the face? When he, too, saw 
how inextricably she was entangled in the web 
that a moment's indiscretion on the professor's 
part had flung around them. He could not 
reproach him, but he could still less assure him 
that he was in no way to blame, and that he was 
not the sole author of all their misery. 

His consultations with the solicitor, whom he 
had engaged to work up the case on behalf 
of the prisoners, were equally distressing. He 
attempted once to explain the exact state of the 
affair to him, but was met with a stare of such 
wondering pity that he relinquished the task on 


How the Mine Exploded. 


291 


the spot. Apart from that forbidden ground, 
he had no assistance to offer. Indeed, the 
shrewd old lawyer soon drew from him that he 
knew that Pelew had signed, at least, one of the 
checks, and after that refrained from question- 
ing him upon the subject. 

And so the time passed by ; the day of trial 
came, and the fatal verdict that he had foreseen 
was given. The judge, who was notoriously 
addicted to preluding his sentences with a long- 
winded* address, delivered a most moral and 
impressive discourse to the miserable creatures. 
Never in the whole course of his not inconsider- 
able experiences of crime had he been called 
upon to perform his high and solemn duties in a 
more flagrant and discreditable case. Even 
while her father’s mysterious fate was unknown — 
her father, renowned alike for his great scientific 
attainments and his lofty moral worth — even at 
that awful and painful moment she had been so 
heartless, so unnatural, so unchristian as to 
intrigue with a young man to aid and abet him 


292 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


in robbing that unaccountably missing parent, 
and so on, and so on. It is needless to recount 
at length the strictures which made poor 
Herbert writhe in his seat as he listened. 

Then he turned to the unlucky professor, and 
exhorted him at great length and in powerful 
language to reflect seriously, in the solitude of 
his prison cell, upon the wickedness of his 
proceedings, and concluded by condemning him 
to ten years penal servitude, and Gladys, as less 
hardened, to five. 

Both Gladys and her father bore their afflic- 
tion bravely, though the poor man shuddered 
and turned pale as he heard the sentence passed 
upon his beloved child. Gladys cast one glance 
of heart-broken but still loving despair, at 
Herbert, and then vanished through the portal 
leading to the prison, while Herbert made his 
way to his lodgings, in a condition of mind but 
little removed from insanity. 

The next day was Sunday, and Herbert, 
determined to afford his ill-fated friends as much 


How the Mine Exploded. 


293 


comfort as the sight of him might bring, repaired 
to the chapel of the jail, to which he had 
previously procured an order of admittance. 

A melancholy sight it was, even to one who 
was free at the end of the service to issue once 
more into the crowded streets and feel the pulse 
of life beat round him. How dreary must it be 
to those who leave it only to return to the bare, 
solitary cell, looking forward only to another 
wearisome week in the long years of shameful 
labor. 

A vast, icy apartment, unspeakably hideous in 
its blank barrenness, lighted . by windows high 
up in the wall behind him. In the center a 
cluster of hard wooden benches, on one of which 
sat Herbert with an aching heart. In a great 
cage, on his right hand, under lock and key, sat 
his hapless friend, among a throng of felons, 
carefully guarded even in that spot by uniformed 
warders. Above him on his left ran a row of 
cold gray shutters, behind which he knew, 
though he might not see her, poor Gladys was 


294 


Was She Wife or Widow f 


enduring her griefs as best she might. He felt 
a mad longing to cry her name aloud, to let her 
know that, though invisible, he was near at hand, 
strong in his love and sympathy. In front of 
him, close by the pulpit stairs, stood a solitary 
black, chair, unoccupied then, but in which, his 
neighbor whispered to him, sat those condemned 
to the last penalty of death, guarded on either 
hand ; and his heart throbbed painfully as he 
thought that a time had been when he would 
have seen the professor there, taking his last 
despairing look upon his fellow-men. 

Woeful as the experience was to him, he was 
repaid by seeing the grateful look of recognition 
in Professor Purfleet's eyes as he moved off, in 
his turn, when the sermon was done, soon 
followed, though it was, by a wave of agony as 
his gaze fell upon the stern barrier behind which 
was immured the unoffending sharer of his fate. 

Professor PurfleePs e^^es signed to him a last, 
sad farewell ; and Herbert would have been 
glad had it been possible to inform him that 


^95 


How the Mine Exploded, 

they would meet yet once again, though at a 
distance. He had ascertained the hour at which 
both he and Gladys were to be removed next 
da}’ to a large convict prison in the country, and 
he had decided to travel down by the same train 
that he might see the last of Gladys and her 
father, though he knew that to get speech 
with them would be out of the question. 
What he feared, more than all else, was that 
his friend, in the desolation of the coming 
years, should be led to think that Herbert bore 
malice against him for his unwitting share in 
Gladys's dreadful destiny ; and he thought that 
he could not better avert the possibility of this 
than by showing him to the latest moment that 
his sincere affection and undiminished gratitude 
were still his in spite of his terrible misfortune 
and its disastrous consequences. 



CHAPTER XX. 

HOW GLADYS ESCAPED. 

At half-past seven the next evening, Herbert 
was seated in the corner of an otherwise empty 
second-class smoking carriage, waiting to begin 
his melancholy journey. He had formed one of 
a crowd of gaping loafers who had drawn 
together to see the convicts pass from the 
prison van to the carriages that awaited them. 
Each man was handcuffed to a warder, and 
among the wretches fettered in this ignomin- 
ious fashion walked Professor Purfleet. He 
seemed painfully conscious of this public 
degradation, but flushed joyfully when he 
beheld Herbert among the throng. He had not 

been able to obtain a sight of Gladys, but he 
[296] 


How Gladys Escaped, 


297 


knew that she, also, was somewhere in the same 
train. 

The hand of the illuminated clock above him 
already pointed to the hour of departure, and he 
was beginning to congratulate himself upon 
being alone in the carriage and free to indulge 
unobserved in the lamentable reflections that 
oppressed him, when the door was flung open, 
and a closely veiled lady prepared to enter the 
carriage. 

This is a smoking compartment,’’ he said, 
making the only attempt to exclude her that lay 
in his power ; but she took no notice, and pass- 
ing him, sat down in the further corner opposite. 
Immediately afterward the guard’s whistle rang 
out shrilly and the train moved out of the 
station. 

He lit a cigar, for having warned the intruder 
he did not feel bound in any way to deprive 
himself of that limited consolation, and set him- 
self to regard the future with sufficiently dismal 
anticipation. It certainly loomed black enough. 


298 TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


and his own distress was intolerably aggravated 
by the haunting vision of the misery the two 
sufferers must daily endure. If to him the years 
presented nothing but a waste of weary days, 
how would it be with them? He did not intend 
to regard the matter from a selfish point of 
view, but he found the picture of their lives 
too harrowing to be endured, and he invol- 
untarily sought shelter from it in his own 
affliction. His own lot seemed at first one of 
unmitigated misery, but as he continued to con- 
template it the prospect brightened perceptibly. 
After all, he concluded, it might well be worse. 
He believed that, provided her behavior was 
satisfactory, of which there was no reasonable 
doubt, Gladys’s imprisonment need not extend 
much beyond three years. It was a long time, 
but not an eternity. He would willingly have 
waited thrice as long for her had it been 
unavoidable. During that period he would 
continue his work at the Cosmopolitan College, 
to the professorship of which he had that morn- 


How Gladys Escaped. 299 

ing received his appointment, and would so 
distinguish himself that at the end he would 
have no difficulty in obtaining a similar posi- 
tion in some American university. That done 
he would marry poor Gladys and take her to 
another land, far away from the recollection of 
all her troubles, from all fear of the pain and 
disgrace that chattering tongues might cause 
her. His happiness was deferred for three years, 
that was all. Many a man, restrained by the 
harsh hand of Poverty, had been delayed much 
longer. 

Hardly had he come to this almost pleasant 
conclusion, when he was aware that the lady, 
whose presence he had completely forgotten, 
had moved from her former position and was 
then seated opposite to him. He did not need 
to raise his eyes to her face, from which the 
veil was now removed, to realize that it was 
Bertha. 

‘^Well, what do you want with me?” he 
asked, coldly, his whole soul revolting against the 


300 IVas She Wife or Widow 9 


woman’s too successful malice. Have you not 
done mischief enough to satisfy you ?” 

I have only done what is right/' sheaswered. 
That man was robbing my husband — robbing 
me — and Gladys was his accomplice in the 
abominable crime." 

You seem to have acquired a sudden respect 
for law and order/' he said, contemptuously. 

I care no more for them now, than I did 
before," she answered, frankly. ‘‘ My own 
desires are the only law I acknowledge. That 
man’s evil-doing gave me some chance of attaining 
them, and 1 made use of it, as I would of any 
other means, fair or foul, that fate presented to 
me." 

Do you suppose the way to win my regard 
is to trample down all that I loved?" he asked, 
amazedly. 

You ought to thank me," she retorted, 
not revile me for having rescued you from 
that wicked and designing girl. The woman 


How Gladys Escaped, 301 

who would rob her father would not shrink 
from deceiving her husband/' 

' She is innocent !" said Herbert, hotly. 

She has made you believe so, I do not doubt. 
She could always twist you round her little 
finger, poor fool. Did she not make you trust 
her when she was engaged in who knows what 
wickedness with that man Pelew ? Even when 
you had seen her with your own eyes embrace 
him clandestinely after midnight under her 
father’s roof, she managed somehow to get 
round your anger, and to blind your eyes once 
more to her vice and folly. If she is innocent, 
why is she now a common convict ? Why did 
she not prove it?” 

There were circumstances that prevented 
it,” he said, angry at the strength of her posi- 
tion, and the weakness of his own. 

“Oh, yes; ‘circumstances.’ What circum- 
stances, pray ; did she tell you?” 

“ No ; he did.” 

'‘He did! So you have held converse with 


302 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


him. The robber of your old friend and 
benefactor, the — 

Be silent!’' Torrin^ton exclaimed in a voice 
so full of anger, that she stopped in awe. 
‘^Your thoughts are as full of evil as your 
actions. You have neither truth, honesty nor 
heart.” 

‘ Heart,’ ” she said. If I have no heart it is 
your fault. It was long since given to you. 
What have you done with it? Where have 
you flung it aside?” 

No more of that,” he answered, bitterly. 
‘‘ I told you before that I would have none of 
your love. If I would not hear of it then, do 
you think it likely that I would accept it now, 
when, owing to your relentless hatred, the 
girl I love is condemned to the undeserved 
infamy of prison life ?” 

“ ' Undeserved ?’ ” she repeated, scornfully. 
‘‘And is Mr. Pelew an innocent martyr?” 

“Bertha!” he exclaimed, stung to madness 
by her tone and manner, and casting away all 


How Gladys Escaped, 


303 


the reserve he had meant to keep. “You do 
not know what you are saying. You shall at 
least learn what you have done. The man you 
have persecuted, whose punishment you have 
secured, whose name you have heaped high with 
obloquy, is your husband. Professor Purfleet.'‘ 

“ What do you mean?’' she cried in wonder. 
“ My husband ! I do not understand you.” 

And, indeed, she did not. 

As briefly as he could, he related to her the 
story of that accursed draught and its effect. 

“ And he told you that ?” she asked, quietly, 
when he had finished. 

“ He told me all himself, when he could no 
longer avoid doing so.” 

“ And she, of course, confirmed his story in 
every particular.” 

“ She did. She knew him, it seems, the 
moment they met.” 

She broke into a spasm of irrepressible 
laughter, holding her side and gasping for 


304 


Was She Wife or Widow? 


breath, so that it was long before she could 
speak articulately. 

My poor — dear — Herbert !” she panted at 
length. They really induced you to believe 
that ridiculous fairy story. You are, indeed, 
easily befooled. They told you that, and 
you — you swallowed every word. Poor — dear — 
Herbert !’* 

Again she went off into a fit of laughter, while 
he sat gnawing his lip and scowling at her, 
black anger filling his heart. What answer 
could he make ? He could not rebut the 
charge. They had told him, and he had 
believed it ; did believe now — aye, every word 
of it — in spite of the mocking laughter that rang 
in his ears. But how convince her? 

I am not quite such a fool as you are kind 
enough to think me,'’ he said, when she was 
quiet enough to hear him. ‘‘ He told me many 
things that Professor Purfleet alone could have 
known — things that happened to me when I was 
young.” 


How Gladys Escaped. 


305 


And which Gladys could not possibly have 
learned and taught to him ?’' 

He made no answer. There was no answer 
he could make. There was a hideous plausibility 
in the suggestion that struck him dumb. What 
if she were right ? What if things had been as 
she said, and he had walked, with eyes bandaged 
by that soft white hand, into the snare laid for 
him ? No, by everything true, he would never 
believe that. 

Well,” she inquired, presently, ‘‘do you see 
how you have been played with ?” 

“ Go back to your corner,” he said, harshly. 
“ Do not come near me or speak to me again.” 

“ I will not,” she answered, opening a small 
hand-bag she had in her lap. “ I shall sit where 
I please. Listen to me, Herbert : I tell you 
once again that I love you. Once, and for the 
last time. I am free. I am rich. Gladys is 
torn from }^our side. Will you take me to her 
place ? Never man was loved as I love you. 
Will you reward my devotion or not ?’’ 


3o6 Was She Wife or Widow f 


*‘You are already married/' he said, startled 
at the wild light in her eyes. 

“That is not the question," she replied. “ My 
husband has left me, and I am free." 

“ Bertha, you are mad !" 

“ Perhaps I am !" she cried. “ If I am, you 
have driven me to it. What is your answer? 
Quick !" 

“ I cannot love you," he said, coldly. 

“ Is that your only answer?" 

“ Yes." 

“Then make up your mind to die!" she 
exclaimed, swiftly drawing a revolver from the 
bag she held. “ Your time has come ! If I may 
not live with you, I can, at least, die with you !" 

“ What are you going to do ?" he cried, as, 
with an expression of grim intensity upon her 
cold, set face, she pointed the weapon at 
him. 

“ To shoot you first, and then to shoot 
myself,” she replied, with the calmness of 
despair. 


How Gladys Escaped, 


307 


Herbert's brain whirled, and he knew not 
what to do. To be alone at night in a rail- 
way carriage with a madwoman in possession of 
a loaded revolver, which she had seemingly 
every intention of using as she had said, was a 
position that might have overset the presence 
of mind of the bravest man. Not finding any 
course open to him in this dread emergency, he 
sat quite motionless, steadily returning her 
gaze, but his heart beat fast, and he felt a stirring 
in the roots of his hair. 

No, no ; I cannot !" she cried, suddenly 
flinging herself on her knees at his feet and 
clasping her arms round him. love you, 
Herbert! I love you! Will you not have pity 
on me?" 

He strove to soothe her, and at the same time 
endeavored to lure the pistol from her grasp, 
but she clung to it stoutly in all her paroxysms 
of agony, and still she begged him to spare her 
life and his ; but, anxious as he was to escape 
from her, he could not bring himself to make a 


3 o 8 Was She Wife or Widow 9 


promise he was unable to keep. After a time, 
she rose, and withdrawing to the further end of 
the carriage, stood, swaying unsteadily with the 
motion of the train. 

“ Very well,” she said, quite calmly. “ What 
must be, must. Do not say, if we ever meet 
again, that I did not give you a chance for your 
life. Good-bye, my dearest, good-bye.” 

“ Bertha !” he cried, and sprang to his feet, 
but even as he did so he saw her raise the pistol 
to his forehead and extend her finger to the 
trigger. At the same moment a fearful, splin- 
tering crash rose above the rattle of the wheels. 
The carriage swayed dizzily to and fro, was 
dragged forward with a sickening jolting and 
stopped with a jarring plunge. Bertha was 
hurled forward almost into his arms, and the 
bullet destined for his brain crashed through 
the window behind him. He seized the pistol 
as it fell from her hand, and paying no further 
heed to her, leaped from the carriage into the 
night air and hurried forward to where shrieks 


How Gladys Escaped. 


309 


and groans of agony shattering the sudden still- 
ness betokened that many a fellow creature had 
been wounded to the death in the collision that 
had saved his life. 

For many years will that accident be remem- 
bered. By some unaccountable blunder, for 
which, as it subsequently transpired at the 
inquiry, no one was to blame, a freight train 
was standing across the points to which the 
express was hastening through the night. The 
signals declared that all was well, and into this 
unseen barrier the train dashed at full speed. 

The destruction was fearful. The list of 
killed and wounded w^as appalling, and the 
escapes, in some cases, almost miraculous. 
The warder sitting beside Professor Purfleet 
was crushed to death on the spot, and the chain 
that linked them snapped like glass, yet he him- 
self escaped without a scratch. Desperately he 
struggled from the wreckage, forgetful of his 
position, forgetful of his prison garb, thinking 
only of Gladys and her fate. 


310 


TVas She Wife or Widow ? 


Fires were quickly lighted from the heaped-up 
fragments, and by their uncertain illumination 
the work of rescue commenced. Of the heart- 
rending sights and sounds that greeted the dis- 
tracted professor in his search it would not do to 
speak too fully. To those who saw them they 
will always remain a ghastly reminiscence 
stamped deeply on the shuddering mind ; by 
those who did not, and who, it is to be hoped, 
may never see the like, they are best left 
uniraagined. 

As he stumbled forward he met a man who 
stopped him with an exclamation. It was Her- 
bert, engaged upon the same errand as himself. 

** Where is she ?’' he cried, hoarsely. Have 
you seen her ? Is she safe ?’' 

“ I do not know?” Herbert answered. I am 
looking for her now. Come quickly ere it is too 
late !” 

Again they hurried onward, side by side, 
Herbert urging his friend to seize the 
opportunity and save himself, promising to con- 


How Gladys Escaped. 3 1 1 

tinue the search for Gladys until he found her ; 
but his companion paid no heed to him, saying, 
again and again : 

Quicker ! Quicker ! We shall be too late !” 

They soon got into the very thick of the 
slaughter, but no one noticed them. At that 
awful moment the uninjured passed unmarked, 
and not even the professor's clothing attracted 
attention. The prisoners were forgotten in the 
face of death. 

Stop !" he exclaimed, suddenly. She is 
here !" 

One carriage had been hurled right upon end, 
and now stood, barely balanced, swaying to its 
fall with every breath of wind. 

Quick ! Quick !" cried the professor, again. 

Get a light ! She is there, I know !" 

Herbert dashed to the nearest fire, snatched 
from it a flaming brand and sprang back. By 
its flickering light he saw for an instant the 
swinging mass. Beside it stood the professor, 
his arms on high, striving with his puny strength 


312 


TVas She Wife or Widow f 


to check its descent. Unconscious at his feet 
whether alive or dead he knew not, lay Gladys. 

With a cry of terror Herbert flung the torch 
he carried to the ground, and with a spring, 
seized Gladys in his arms, lifted her as if she had 
been a child and carried her from beneath the 
imminent danger. As he did so, above the groans 
of the dying, the yells of pain, the shouts of the 
busy rescuers — above even the strident roaring 
of the escaping steam — a shrill scream rang out, 
and a woman leaped upon the professor, cling- 
ing to him madly. 

Help ! Help she shrieked. Here, this 
way! Your prisoners are escaping! Help! 
Help!’^ 

In vain he tried to shake her off. She clung 
to him in spite of all his struggles ; she strength- 
ened her hold upon his up-lifted arms and with- 
out knowing what she did dragged them down. 

A yell of horror arose as, released of its last 
slight support, the mighty mass stooped down, 
down, down, and with an awful crash came to 


Hozv Gladys Escaped. 


313 


the ground, crushing into shapeless destruction 
the unfortunate Professor Purfleet and Bertha, 
his wife. 



CHAPTER XXL 

HOW IT ENDED. 

In a comfortabl}'’ furnished house, surrounded • 
by a pleasant garden, situated in the suburbs of 
a thriving and populous city, the chief town of a 
State that shall be nameless. Professor Torrington 
and his wife Gladys have lived now for many 
years, beloved and respected by friends, happy 
in each other’s undiminished devotion and in 
that of the children growing up around them. 

When, a few weeks only after his appointment, 
Herbert sent in his resignation to the council of 
the Cosmopolitan College, it was received with 
unfeigned regret ; but he pleaded ill-health as a 
reason for not withdrawing it, and procured with- 
[314] 


How it Ended. 


315 


out difficulty the post which he now holds with 
profit and distinction. 

On that fearful night, the terror of which will 
never be altogether forgotten by either of them, 
though softened in its worst details by the 
passage of time, Herbert, having ascertained that 
Professor Purfleet and his wife were both past 
hope, secured a cloak which he found in a 
deserted carriage, and having wrapped in it 
Gladys’s insensible form, carried her to the 
nearest village. 

Here, declaring that his wife, though injured 
by the shock, was quite capable of being moved,, 
he procured a vehicle without difficulty. Noth- 
ing was known as yet about the prisoners who 
had been on the train, and the overburdened 
doctors and overcrowded inhabitants were only 
too glad to be relieved of any superfluous 
patients. He drove across country to the 
nearest station on another line, and thence made 
his way with Gladys, who, though she had 
recovered consciousness, had no idea of what had 


3i6 


IVas She Wife or Widow ? 


passed or where she was, to the little village in 
which his mother lived. 

Arrived there unobserved before day-break, 
he had no trouble in interesting the kind old 
lady in the history of this innocent criminal. 
Without any one being aware of it, her prison 
garments were destroyed, and others provided 
for her. 

For a long time she lay suffering from nervous 
prostration, her terrible experience, the shock of 
the collision, her unexpected escape and her 
father’s death, all combining to aggravate her 
state of mind ; but the peace of her surroundings, 
the happiness of being once more with Herbert, 
and the careful tending of his good mother 
eventually restored her to health. 

By that time all the necessary arrangements 
had been made, and there was nothing to prevent 
their sailing for America, which was to be their 
home for the future, in the ship in which Herbert 
had already secured berths. 

They were married quietly early one morning 


How it Ended, 


3 1 7 

at the little village church, and got safely on 
board and out to sea without Gladys being 
recognized or suspected. 

As they sat the first evening in the sunset, 
while the white cliffs of England grew faint in 
the distance, a feeling of perfect happiness and 
security settled down on Herbert's mind, never 
again to be lifted from it. As he saw his new- 
made wife gazing, not without a shade of regret, 
at the dim line on the horizon, while his mother 
knitted contentedly by his side, he heaved a 
great sigh, and with it threw off his load of care 
to drift down the wind to the land that gave it 
birth. Before he sailed he went to settle, among 
other small debts, the account due to Mr. 
Wenlock for his share in the search for the 
professor. 

Oh, that's all right, sir," said he, '' I'm not 
going to charge you anything. ‘ No cure, no 
pay,' is my motto in this case. I didn't find the 
old gentleman, and there's an end of it, but 1 
should like to know' what became of himt*' 


3 1 8 JVas She Wife or Widow f 


“Should you?” said Herbert, “ then I’ll tell 
you. Listen while I whisper in your ear. Mr. 
Pelew was Professor Purfleet.” 

“Get out!” said Mr. Wenlock. 


THE END. 


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